Falling Leaves
by Lore55
Summary: They say that the beat of a butterflies wings can start a hurricane. She was no butterfly, she was trapped on the ground, never able to take off. Until fate threw a wrench in her well planned future. Now a leaf, tossed in the wind, might draw the eyes of those in this new life. The question is, is that a good thing? SI, reincarnation, you know the drill. HIATUS.
1. If you asked

**New story, new character. Typical SI reincarnation fic.**

**I don't own anything.**

* * *

If you were to ask someone about the little girl who lived on end of the street they would tell you she was an odd child, then cluck their tongues and turn away, murmuring about 'the poor thing' and going on to talk; "this is what happened when you married a someone like _him_." "The poor thing, all alone like that. Someone really should go and bring her a proper meal." Nothing would be done, of course, it wasn't _their_ problem after all. And little Asuka Suzuki, who would more likely than not be elsewhere, would be none the wiser to the transaction.

Her behavior was marked up as a side effect of her upbringing, with an absent father that spared her few glances and an absent mother that hadn't looked at the girl in years. So excuses were made, excuses for why the girl with green eyes always looked like she knew something. Reasons that a switch could flick and the childish grin would be replaced a look that was more predator than person. Reasons that the girls calculating gaze, switched quickly for one of innocents, might cause such anxiety.

Reasons that a child only acted her age.

If you were to ask Asuka she would reply with something flat, or innocent, or sarcastic, all depending on her mood. And green eyes were look up at you with such clarity that it was sure that she had to be only what she appeared.

Behind closed doors and deep in the woods, however, lay the truth. Bloodied knuckles and micro-fractures, notes written in foreign ciphers and half completed drawings that held no visible meaning. Determination burned brightly in those dark places, hidden from prying eyes and gossiping house hens. An unbreakable will shone deep in her heart, and effort was seen in cracked trees and broken mannequins.

Green eyes glowed with the desire to grow, to strengthen, to _surpass_.

And none knew why, or even noticed, because who would see the little girl at the end of the street for anything more than what they wanted to see, a reason and an example.

* * *

_ "Which alternative is worse, I wonder?" she said. "To deny death and thus risk never being wholly alive, or to face oblivion squarely and risk paralysis by dread?"_

James K. Morrow, in _The Philosopher's Apprentice_


	2. Into the World

I came into this world the same way that everyone does. Naked, covered in blood, screaming my lungs out.

You did it too, so did your mom, your dad, and your first grade teacher. Who wouldn't scream when they were suddenly ripped out of what was basically nine months sensory deprivation and thrown headlong (hopefully) into the cold, bright, _loud_ world outside?

Not that any of you want to remember that. Truthfully I don't either, so I've done my best to push those frantic, terrified memories from my mind. Now the question might arise that asks how, exactly, do I remember that time. It wasn't as if any normal persons long term memory reached back to infancy, right?

I am sad to inform you that you are right, no normal persons does. To my displeasure I am not what is commonly referred to as a normal person. Because normal people don't remember as far back as their birth, they certainly don't remember their time in utero, and they absolutely, definitely _do not_ remember further back than that.

And yes, there is most certainly further back than that. For me, at least, there is.

Before the two years of next-to-zero motor function and complete inability to fend off the attacks of affection from my current father, Akio Suzuki, and my only mother, Shiori Suzuki I was not Asuka Suzuki. I wouldn't bother you with the details of who I used to be if I didn't think it was relevant to the story I'm about to tell you.

My name isn't important, though for those of you curious enough to know it was Laura. My old dad was an ex-marine, my mom was a victim of an unknown allergy to the anesthetic they used during my birth. As for me, I was an engineer. I worked for NASA.

I'm sure you think I exaggerate, but truthfully I did. It took me about ten years in college and a lot longer to actually get in, so by the time I had a secure place on their payroll I was nearly thirty. I may have been smart, but I wasn't smart enough to enter NASA before twenty five. By the time my death rolled around I was thirty seven, with a guilty pleasure that stemmed from the place as my desire to join the space program. Mobile Suit Gundam.

Go ahead, you can laugh. Actually writing this all down I know I am, but that show was my life as a kid. I wouldn't have seen it, as it was years from being put in English back then, if it wasn't for my neighbor, who had moved in from Japan shortly after it was released. Our friendship was a struggle, with his broken English and my lack of knowledge on Japanese half our time was spent playing charades. Eventually though we both learned enough of each others language for casual conversation and I was introduced to anime.

Being the geek that I was my love of it stayed with me throughout my childhood, onto my teenage years and well into adulthood. It was a good escape, with dramatic characters and crazy fights that could never really happen. My favorite was a long running show centered around an orange wearing ninja. I'm sure your know it.

Anyways, I was smart, grew up with my dad, and worked for NASA. Life was pretty good, great, in fact, until the day I was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Long story short; A bank robbery went wrong when I was making a withdrawal, I got shot, the world goes black, and the next thing I know I'm surrounded by some sort of warmth.

Why am I boring you with the details of my life? Why should you care?

_Because I was rocket scientist stuck in a place without space travel, that's why._

* * *

I try not to think too much about the time when I was an infant, simply because it was horribly, awfully, unbearably _boring_. I couldn't move properly, couldn't stand, couldn't control anything about myself or the world around me. When I needed something I could not get it, or even ask for it. I had to cry and hope someone understood what I required. My mother was a saint, and sometimes I thought her a mind reader as well.

Whenever the little wails would be emitted from my mouth she would hurry over from where she was in our cozy little house, scoop me into her arms and run a methodical check to see if I needed food, changing, or if I was simply lonely, which was the case often enough it's rather sad.

I've never dealt with being on my own well, especially when I couldn't even occupy myself. Needless to say I started reading as soon as possible.

Akio Suzuki was a tall man, with loose blond hair a few shades from red and deep-set brown eyes. His jaw was strong, his nose proudly arched and his lips always lifted with a smile. Somehow he felt bigger, more, than my mother, as if he were more energetic than my mother, for all he did not have her energy by the time he got home. (I would later learn that the energy I felt from him was chakra.)

He would come home at odd times, stay for hours or days or even weeks before leaving, for hours, days, or weeks. I could find no pattern in his work schedule, but when the door opened and he walked in, looking world weary and battered, I would crawl, and latter toddle over to him, grab his pant leg and give him a toothless smile.

The age seemed to melt away and he would smile like the sun and pick me up, toss me into the air and laugh.

My mother never seemed to fear for my safety when I was off the ground, out of his arms, and one day I discovered why.

I was three years old, reading a book on the floor of the living room when my father came in, just like always. Except this time he wasn't alone.

I was never sure why, but my mother did not take me with her when she went shopping, in fact my access to the outside world was limited to out fenced in, tree surrounded backyard. Whenever she went shopping I would be left with my fifteen year old neighbor, who smoked more than anyone ever should. Consequently I had never seen the outside world, and so had no warning for what was about to happen.

The extra pair of weird shoes that accompanied my fathers were noted, and I had to grin in excitement. I always loved to meet new people, expand my horizons and learn more about the world I lived in (It didn't take a genius to see that this was not the world I had been born in last time). I couldn't see the person themselves, as I was on the other side of the couch, but I leapt to my feet and ran as fast as my short legs could carry me around the obstacle, giving a joyous shout of greeting to my father. I hit his leg, which was confusing as he normally lifted me before I made contact.

There was a chuckle from above and I looked up at him from under short black bangs, smiling happily. Until I noticed the white bandages wrapped around his head, the dilation of his pupils and the fact that he was leaning heavily on another person.

My tiny face creased with my worry and Akio crouched down and pulled me into a hug, standing straight up again with only a little wobble. Even his normal energy was low, faded. I was frightened.

"Sunshine," he greeted, kissing my forehead. "You're dad got a little banged up at work today, so he can't play tonight. Sorry."

He really was too, I could see it in his eyes as I sat in his arms. He wanted to play with me, but he had been injured. Work. What was his work, that required funny looking sandals and caused the familiar visage of a soldier?

A sound from the right reminded me of the visitor's presence and I turned to see who it was that had brought my dad home to me. I also got my answer.

Silver hair and a single black eye met my sight before my eyes rolled back and I promptly passed out.

* * *

Kakashi Hatake was no where to be found when I woke up again, in my bed instead of my dads arms. I slipped out from under my generic purple bed sheets and padded into the hallway, finding that the house was dark and quiet. My socks slipped on the hardwood floor a couple of times before I reached my parents room. The ticking clock in the hallways told me it was very early in the morning, almost half past two.

My parents were sleeping peacefully when I walked in, my dad only turning over. I assumed he had woken briefly, realized it was me and gone back to sleep. My mother lay with her back to him, facing the window, and I had to go all the way around the bed to reach her, not wanting to bother my sleeping father.

I stopped and stared at her for a few minutes, the moon glowing at my back.

Shiori was a truly beautiful woman when she was awake, bright and full of life and love. It was easy to see why dad married her. Her hair was soft, shining black, her eyes a green as mint leaves. Her nose was small and her skin smooth, jaw straight and brows forever arching. When she smiled it lit her entire face, and while her praise was not given lightly it was sincere when it was.

I hoped to one day look like her, and possibly learn to cook just as well.

In the moon light though she looked somehow smaller, shrunken in and fragile. Perhaps it was because her energy, which by then I had assumed was chakra, was so small. Perhaps it was because she had asthma. I was never really sure, but that night when I crawled into bed with her and curled into the soft curve of her body a feeling of foreboding touching down on my chest.

My perfect, happy life had just ended, and the hardship was about to begin.

* * *

It was a few months later, after I had explained that Kakashi had felt too big to be around(something that completely confused poor Shiori and brought a strange gleam to my fathers eye) that my parents sat me down in front of the couch, looking at each other. They appeared almost nervous, for what reason I couldn't be sure.

"Asuka," my father began slowly, waiting until I had stopped rolling my plastic bracelet around to continue, "You mother and I, well, that is to say you're moth is- You're going to have- um."

"I'm going to have a baby," mother blurted, one hand on her stomach. I looked between the two of them, tilting my head to the side. Was I supposed to be confused? Angry? Jealous? I was none of those, in fact I was ecstatic.

A grin blossomed on my face and I jumped up to wrap my arms around my mother's neck.

"That's great! I'll have someone to play with! Is it gonna be a boy or a girl? What are we gonna call them? Do I have to share my room or will they have their own?" questions bubbled out of my mouth in a continuous stream and my parents held onto me, laughing in relief. Weren't they lucky to have such a good daughter?

* * *

It was around the same time that Shiori's first trimester ended that Akio pulled me away to their room and set me on the bed. He opened the table beside it, pulling out a cloth headband with a metal plate attached to it. It was held out to me and I gingerly took it, carefully tracing the design engraved on it. Green met brown and I made a questioning noise.

"That's the symbol of the Leaf Village, Asuka," he explained, crouching in front of me, "That headband is given to all the ninja that risk their lives to protect the village, like me and Kakashi. It's very important, and it will always be worn by the people who serve the village. Do you understand?"

I nodded slowly, placing the headband in my lap and watching my father carefully. What was he getting at?

"Would you like to be a ninja?"

"I-," I cut myself off, frowning. Did I? Being a ninja was dangerous, it could easily get you killed. On the other hand being a civilian when there were wars and invasions coming was just as worrisome. If something happened I wanted to be able to protect myself, and my mother.

"I want to be a ninja," I told him firmly, jaw set in what would become a familiar stubborn line.

* * *

Not a week after my declaration I was at the hospital with a medical ninja looking me over, his face grim set. I didn't like the look of it, it made my nerves start to fire and my stomach start to twist. Akio was called into the hallway, away from me and he and the doctor had a hushed conversation before my father gave a shout of denial. He was hushed quickly, and all I could do was swing my legs and wait. Breathing was getting hard, my heart was pumping funnily.

The door opened and I looked up, finding a frustrated, angry, frightened looking father standing there with a solemn medic. I looked up at them, hands clasped tightly in front of me as I waited for the verdict.

It was the doctor that spoke up. "I know this might be hard to hear, but please listen. You're chakra sensitive, which can sometimes make it hard to be a ninja. That would be something you could have worked around. But…."

"But?" I prompted quietly.

"Asuka," there was my father, "There's a hole in your heart. You can't become a ninja."

* * *

_The greatest test of courage on earth is to bear defeat without losing heart. Robert Green Ingersoll_


	3. First Friend

I should have been happy, should have been thrilled, but I wasn't. In fact I was downright terrified the more I thought about life as a civilian. Civilians were weak, defenseless, and completely helpless to the goings on of shinobi. And the future was going to be dangerous. Invasions, attacks and the Fourth Great War, I needed to be able to protect myself no matter what. To quote Toby Mac; (That) ain't no trouble overseas, no Vietnam. If I couldn't fight for myself I was completely screwed.

So what does someone do when your life depends on becoming a ninja and you can't do that?

I didn't come to a conclusion right away, matter of fact it took me almost a month to decide that I what I was going to do.

* * *

In the month after the discovery things changed. My father stopped smiling at just the sight of me, in fact whenever our eyes met I swear he would flinch. There were no more trips into the air, no more lighting up in his eyes or laughter at my occasional stumbles. He was withdrawing, I realized, and that was my first clue to the severity of my situation.

My mother was the exact opposite. She started smothering me, constant attention and almost constant crying. For all her clinging her eyes were duller, the lines in her face deeper and her shoulders more tense. I was starting to worry she would develop prenatal depression.

Their behavior wormed its way under my skin, combined with my near constant confinement to the house I was steadily growing more and more restless, closer to an explosion. I wasn't even allowed to play outside in case it caused further damage to my heart. Eventually my emotional capacity reached its limit and I did what anyone in my situation would do. I ran away.

It wasn't dramatic, there were no slamming doors or screaming at my parents for changing, not even any tears. There was literal running though, down the walkway to the sidewalk and beyond. I just ran, as fast as I could as the sun started to set and my mother did the dishes. Akio was somewhere else, probably on a mission somewhere. By then I didn't even care.

I needed a break, somewhere to go, to think where no one would be watching and if needed I could have a good, long breakdown.

My neighborhood did not fit this criteria, and so was left far behind.

I don't know if I've already mentioned this, but I didn't get out much. Mother did not like taking me shopping, father was too tired to take me anywhere if he wanted to, and so my entire world was compounded into my house, back yard, and on special occasions the cul-de-sac. This meant that I had no idea how to navigate the rest of the village. I didn't know where anything was, where anyone lived, I didn't really care when I was sprinting down the street.

Hey, I never claimed to think things through.

* * *

Somehow in my run I ended up at a large park, green grass as far as could be seen and a swing set off to the side. It was just like the parks I used to go to Before, excluding the multitude of trees that surround and cut through it. I wasn't the only child there, though it appeared I was the only one just arriving. Most were busy finishing games, parents watching with weary eyes from benches on all sides and the cement pathway that wound through the grass.

It was the swings I made my way to, avoiding rushing games of tag and hoping over ill hidden hide-and-seekers. There was only one other person seated on the swings, a head of spiky blond hair bowed. I caught bright eyes staring out from under bangs, and a scan of the parents around revealed that most eyes were either directly on the boy or pointed directly away.

For a brief moment my feet tried to lead me away, to follow my peers (however unknown they were) in social ostracization of the boy. That urge was quickly crushed and I made my way to the swings, plopping down in the one next to the little boy. His head snapped up, blue eyes locking on me. I didn't look back, instead focusing on getting the swing moving.

This was the first time my new body had been in on, and it was unused to attempting to get it moving. Lucky for me swings were my favorite thing in the world in my last childhood, so memory trumped physical experience and I started swinging steadily, back and forth. The seat itself was wood, which was weird, the ties actual rope instead of chain.

I pumped my legs and flung my back back, steadily growing higher and passing the familiar little boy, still staring. Once I wasn't in danger of loosing altitude if I paused I turned my head to look at him, black hair whipping into my eyes.

"How come you aren't swinging?" I asked, and felt my heart hurt at the surprise he displayed at being addressed. He lowered his eyes quickly, looking almost shy. I had to fight not to jump off and hug him right then. Adorable boy.

"I, um, I dunno how," he mumbled. I really did jump off then, horrified at the revelation. Jump is a bad word, I actually hit the ground and ran forwards to avoid hitting the dirt worn down by years of children's feet. I spun on my heel and marched right over to the little blond, who was staring with wide eyes.

"I'll push you," I declared, leaving no room for argument as I walked behind him. He tried to turn to watch me but I shook my head. "Face forwards or you'll fall."

He quickly did and I grabbed the ropes, using all the strength in my three year old arms to haul his swing back and let go. He swung forwards before coming back, and I gave him a hard push that almost sent him out of his seat.

"Hey!" he yelped, sounding a little bit frightened.

"Just hold on and don't let your back move," I instructed. When I pushed him the next time he had braced himself and it worked much better than the previous attempt. I kept going, getting him higher until I was jumping up to get to his back and riding his shoulders down.

Eventually he forgot his grip, and when next I tried to rise with his shoulders the both of us were sent tumbling to the ground, him on top of me with an elbow in my gut. He yelped, I choked and when I tried to pull back the swing hit my head.

Unwanted tears sprung to my eyes and I sat back, gripping my head. Frustration curled in my stomach, more from the tears themselves instead of the sharp pain in my head. Crying over such a small thing was stupid and useless, I knew that which only made it worse.

My companion started panicking, frantically apologizing and begging me not to die or go away, crying now himself and proclaiming how sorry he was.

I sat back, eyes still stinging and tears slipping out. My hand hit the top of his head without painful force and he looked up, lips quivering. Two three year olds in a panicked crying mess, sitting under a jerking swing while parents started dragging their children away, whispering and glaring at the boy in front of me. My lips curled into a smile and I patted his head.

"Don't worry, I'm okay. It just hurt is all," I explained, and he started to calm. My head still hurt but I was going to be fine, it was the adult knowledge that a child's skull is more unsealed sutures than actual bone, and that I wouldn't have permanent damage that helped me end my tears a few moments later, wiping them away with the back of my sleeve.

His mouth opened to say something, but before he could I jerked and a set up feet appeared beside us. My head snapped up to find a mask, a second appearing beside the first. Little fox boy didn't seem horribly surprised, scrambling to his feet while I stared wide eyed up at the two familiar masks. I pointed to the Hound, silver hair spiking wildly.

"You're the static man!" I proclaimed, getting no actual reaction. I could feel who it was even if I couldn't see him, or if I hadn't known who he was beforehand. He felt like electricity, like the static that tugs the hair on your arms up when you dragged your socks across carpet, or when lightning was about to strike and the energy charged the air. That was him, his energy larger than my fathers, leagues outside of my mother, and myself as well.

The Cat, I think it was supposed to be a cat anyways, with more color in his mask, tilted his head in silent question. I knew who he was, and filed away the feel of him for later. It's difficult to explain in words, but he felt like standing in the middle of trees, dwarfing you and towering high above your head. The feeling of possibility, and life.

The ANBU said nothing, but with a flick of the wrist the blond boy walked over to Hounds side, looking at me.

"Um, I need to go," he stated, looking so sad it broke my heart.

I gave him a grin. "That's okay. We'll play again some other tie!" I decided then that I would stick with this boy, whether my parents allowed it or not.

Blue eyes grew wide before a smile brighter than the sun spread across his face. "Yeah! We can play ninja then!" seeming to realize that I might not want to play ninja he backtracked. "If you wanna, I mean."

"Of course I do. Ninja are awesome," I stated, and watched the boy node sagely in agreement. "I don't actually know your name," I realized, and stepped forwards to shove my hand in front of his face. "I'm Asuka Suzuki. Who're you?"

That seemed to give him pause, as if he didn't want to tell me. Thinking about it I didn't blame him for not wishing to disclose such information. At last he took my hand. "I'm Naruto, Naruto Uzumaki."

His voice a mumble but I made no move to get away, displayed no surprise. "Naruto," I repeated. "Okay, my first friends name is Naruto!''

"We're friends now?" he squeaked, looking terribly hopeful. It hurt my heart.

"Of course we are!" my smile did not falter, and his face glowed with happiness. He left with the two ANBU, a skip in his step, radiating joy. It made my chest warm to know that I had caused it, and I waited until he was gone before I turned around to go home.

The problem was, I had no idea where home was.

"…shit."

* * *

I spent almost three hours wandering around the village, struggling to find something that looked like it might have been close to my home. I didn't find anything, and it was starting to frighten me. On the up side as night fell I had a lot to think about. About the future, and other reasons to be a ninja aside from my own selfish desire to make it in this world. I wanted to keep that little boy smiling, forever if I could, a goal that I could not achieve if I was bound by the limitations of a civilian.

The stars shone above my head and I came to a stop in the empty street, looking up to meet the stone gaze of four hokage. To protect my friends smile, to protect my own life, I needed to be stronger, faster, more than what I was then.

My eyes slid further up, past the rock and to the clear, inky blackness that was pierced with lights. If I wanted to touch the stars I would have to learn to fly. To leave the ground. To become something better than what I was then, and what I had been before.

My hand curled into a first and I started walking, aiming for the ninja's tower to get someone to take me home. I knew what I had to do, and in the shadows of the night I made my decision, vowed to myself to join and surpass my father.

What do you do when your life depends on becoming a ninja and you can't?

You do it anyways.

* * *

_Determination gives you the resolve to keep going in spite of the roadblocks that lay before you. -Denis Waitley _


	4. Second Meeting

**Chapter4 at last! Little short, sorry guys.**

**Littlebirdd: I'll get more into what her heart does later on but know that all that I have in here about it I learned from my grandfather, who had the same problem as a child so hopefully no one jumps at me for medical inaccuracies or supposed impossibilities or anything like that.**

**Canori: Thank you for the defense. **

**EMSNaruto: I appreciate the feedback, and I'll take care of Naruto so don't worry too much. There are no pairings right now as they are tiny children. I'll probably open a poll or something later on to see what the final pairings are going to be but for now there's nothing definite.**

* * *

To say that my parents were furious when Genma finally escorted me back to my home would be an understatement. My father seemed to have been on the verge of a panic attack and my mother had been in hysterics. I felt guilty but I was too pleased with myself to let it really get to me. I had a friend, and that friend was one of the cutest balls of sunshine to ever grace the planet with his smile.

I didn't see him again for a long time, seeing as I was grounded 'for the rest of (my) life!' which ended up only meaning a couple of months. In that time I revealed my plans to go on and be a ninja. I could see the pain in my father's expression as he tried to explain why I couldn't. It only grew when I informed him that it didn't matter and that I would be a ninja anyway.

Really, I didn't have a choice. If I wanted to live and wanted to be able to have an effect on the world then I needed to be a ninja, I wasn't going to die so easy again and it wasn't going to be in such a sad manner. I was going to life again.

And I wasn't just going to be a ninja either, it seemed. In the time I was confined to my house the microwave broke. Akio had to pull it down and set it on the floor before he went to try and find someone who could fix it. Turns out he left them behind with his napping wife.

While she was asleep I had free reign of the house, and found the broken microwave sitting on the floor. I took a look at it, a model that was very basic as far as I was concerned, before going off to find the tool box that was kept under the sink. I dragged it out with weak child arms and flipped it open, selecting the screw driver and starting to take the appliance apart.

Oddly enough there was a gap in the lower right hand corner. The problem was actually very simple. One of the wires inside had been chewed through, and under it was the corpse of the poor rodent. Upon closer inspection I realized the gap was a place where the metal had been rusted through, matching up with a wet spot on the wall.

I fixed it using wire strippers and insulated tape.

When Akio returned I hid away and let him find the microwave exactly as he hand left it before I wandered out of my room and asked for chicken nuggets. He told me the microwave was broken and I told him it wasn't and to prove it. When he tried it worked and I smiled to myself, quite proud. My father sent me an odd look before getting my lunch.

I only smiled at him innocently. I hadn't lost my touch.

* * *

When not helping my mother around the house and watching her steadily growing stomach I spent time writing. As far as my parents were concerned it was just a little girl scribbling on paper in what looked vaguely like writing.

I wrote in English, of course, jotting down everything I knew from the plot of the show. There wasn't a whole awful lot, it was mostly events, ages and a very basic time line, with little scribbles of pictures here and there, not all of them recognizable thanks to the sharp edges and exaggerated lines I used. I can't do loops and curls very well, everything I write or draw looks more like a blueprint than anything else.

I was recording everything I could remember as quickly as I could before I forgot or the knowledge was replaced by new information. I went through every scrap of paper in the house and pitched a fit when ever someone tried to throw something out. I kept the ever growing stack of papers shoved into what was supposed to be a toy box. It ended up being a box of papers, sorted into categories and subcategories.

It looked horrific and messy but I knew where everything was.

I also started gathering up loose electronic ends I found, batteries and wires, light bulbs and, of all things, floppy disks. Floppy disks! My family didn't even have a computer.

This world was so weird.

* * *

I was finally free from my home and decided I was going to run again. If I was going to become a ninja I needed to be in shape. I also needed to know how far I could go before my heart started giving me trouble, if it did. I was still struggling to understand exactly what was going on with it. I was not a doctor after all. Not one of medicine at least.

I ran down the sidewalk and into town, short legs pushing me across the ground quickly. I went back to the park, having an idea of where I was this time, and found no one of significance there to talk to. I kept running.

I passed a shopping district full of vendors, food, and clothes before moving on and finding the ninja academy. Around then I was starting to breath heavily and my heart was thudding loudly. I wasn't sure if it was because of the hole or the fact that I had been going for a long time.

I spun around the corner and collided with something much bigger than I was.

My tailbone hit the hard dirt and I yelped in surprise, stirring up a small cloud of dust. I whined and looked up mouth moving before my eyes processed the ridiculous hat my offender wore.

"Hey! That was mean!" I cried, frowning up at man. He was taller than me by far, with grey hair and a point beard the same color he towered above me in red and white robes. I blinked once. Twice. Thrice.

That was the Hokage.

"Asuka!" a familiar voice called. I looked to the side, finding a blond boy standing next to the old man in a black T-shirt and cargo pants. I stood up, brushing off my pink shirt and leggings and trying to get the dirt off the tail of my yellow under shirt. As I did I smiled brightly.

"Hi Naruto!" I chirped, bouncing over to him. The Hokage was watching us, a brow raised. I ignored him, his presence forgotten in favor of my friend's.

Naruto smiled at me before it fell and he started pouting at me. "You said we would play again! I thought we were gonna play ninja," there was a distinct whine in his tone.

"We can," I promised immediately. "I got in trouble and couldn't come out to play for a really long time and it was _so boring_," I drew the last two words out dramatically and let my head fall forwards. "So boring."

I looked up at he was still pouting but I could see it wavering. I smiled and reached out, clapping my palms on either side of his face and squishing his cheeks together. He made a startled sound and I pushed them back again.

"I'm sorry," I told him sincerely, "Please don't be sad. You should smile!" I dropped my hands and poked him in the stomach, startling a laugh out of him. "Or I'll tickle you until you pee yourself."

Blue eyes widened in horror. "No!" he cried, and I laughed. He was adorable. It was only when I realized I wasn't the only one laughing that I remembered the old man was still there. I looked up at him and he looked down at me, eyes shining in mirth.

"Who're you?" I asked, rather rudely I might add. What can I say, I didn't like the guy much.

"I'm Hiruzen Sarutobi," he told me, "Who are you?"

I studied him before stepping back and behind Naruto. "My mommy told me not to talk to weird old men," I informed him, watching him choke in surprise.

"He's not weird!" Naruto objected, "He's the Hokage!" He shouted, trying to look at me over his shoulder. I didn't let him, ducking out of his line of sight and giggling quietly. I looked up at the Hokage from under my lashes before deciding to stop playing with him.

"I'm Asuka Suzuki. If you're the Hokage then you're a ninja right?" I asked, curious. Hiruzen Sarutobi was huge in terms of chakra, dwarfing anyone else I had yet met with the warmth of a star.

The old man nodded. "That's right."

"Then you know my dad," I concluded, "He's real strong."

"Oh?" the man sounded amused.

"Uh huh, he'd the best ninja ever."

My declaration was met with objection. "Nu uh, the Fourth Hokage was the best," Naruto insisted. I shook my head.

"Nope, my dad is better," a lie, but a child's lie.

"Nu uh!" Naruto argued.

"Yeah huh!" Was my intellectual response.

"Nu uh!"

"Yeah huh!"

"Nu uh!"

"Yeah huh!"

"Nu uh!"

"Yeah huh!"

"Nu uh!"

"Nu uh!"

"Yeah huh!"

"Nu uh!"

"Yeah huh!"

"Nu uh!"

"Yeah huh!"

"Nu uh!"

"Yeah huh!"

"Nu uh!"

"Yeah huh!"

"Nu uh!"

"Yeah huh!"

"Nu uh!"

"Nu uh!"

"Yeah huh!"

"See I told you!" I shouted in triumph, leaping back and pointing to his face.

Naruto stared at me wide eyed, surprised and confused. "What?" he asked, face crumpling in bewilderment.

"You said 'Yeah huh' so you agreed with me so I must be right!" I rushed out.

"No you aren't," he argued.

"Yes I am," I insisted.

It started again, the Hokage watching us, laughing under his breath. I pulled two more Bugs Bunny's before Naruto finally gave up, looking mad and walking away.

I just smiled after him.

"So, Asuka," the Hokage drew my attention back to him and I blinked up at him innocently.

"Ah?" I hummed, curious.

"Are you going to be a ninja like your father?" he questioned. My face lit up like a candle.

"Yeah! I want to be the best kunoi- kunai- kunoibi- ninja ever," I managed to recover, "I'll work real hard and be able to help mommy and protect my baby sister. Or brother," I was smiling in childlike innocence, rocking my heels and letting my arms float at my sides,. "Dad doesn't want me to be though, cause there's a hole in my heart and he thinks it'll hurt me. But it'll hurt worse if something icky happens and I can't do anything."

The Hokage was watching me with an expression I couldn't read. I watched him, a little nervous before he smiled again. "I'm sure you'll make a fine ninja. Now," his voice raised, carrying to Naruto, "Why don't you two go play?"

* * *

When I came home that night I was dirty but smiling happily. My chest hurt, it was hard to breath, and I'd been a dizzy a few times during Naruto and I's games but other than that I was fine. This time I had told them where I was going and had been allowed out on my own, which was weird. Apparently people here didn't have as much restrictions on letting children wander around as they did where I was from.

"I'm home!" I called out, walking into the living room. My parents would normally be in there, reading or watching TV, but now they were nowhere to be found. I frowned and left there, going to the dining room, the kitchen, my room and theirs.

No one was home, and I was starting to worry when there was a knock on the door. I jogged down the steps, tripping down the last three and yanked the door open. I had no fear, recognizing the person on the other side even before I pulled it open.

"Static man!" I greeted, looking up at the masked face of the copy-ninja. A single black eye met mine, curling up with a smile.

"Asuka," he greeted, "You're mother is having the baby early. I'm going to take you to the hospital okay?"

I nodded in agreement, seeing nothing wrong. Babies were born early all the time.

"Okay!"

Except it wasn't and it wouldn't be.

* * *

_Never throughout history has a man who lived a life of ease left a name worth remembering. - Theodore Roosevelt_


	5. Too Early

The hospital room was loud with shouting and machine noise, beeps and clanks and the whoosh of air tubes. A man and his daughter were hustled out of the room as a flat line shrieked into existence and the woman on the table was transferred to an emergency surgery cart, one medic pumping her heart manually.

The man, a ninja by his clothes and bearing, tried to follow but was cut off, his little girl having more luck. She sprinted down the hall, past doctors and chased the cart that held her mother, terror in her eyes.

The surgery room doors burst open and she stumbled in messily, getting snatched up almost immediately at the shout of 'get the girl out of here!' and yanked out of the room. None of this was fast enough to keep her from spotting, with horror, the blood or hearing the screams of the woman who was her mother before they cut off.

Before she was gone and shoved back into her father's arms she caught a glimpse of her mother, pale as death, covered in blood. A still babe was in the arms of one of the doctors and the defibrillators slammed into the woman's chest, sending her body into levitation.

The doors shut, the heart monitor beeped, and a week later a casket too small for anyone's comfort was lowered into the ground.

* * *

_If every tear we shed for you became a star above, you'd stroll in Angel's garden, lit by everlasting love. -Author unknown_


	6. School Days

**Chapter 6 now. **

**I own nothing. **

**Feedback is welcome.**

* * *

I was not an older sister, as I had been preparing to be, hoping to be. I had no little brother to tease or little sister to fight with. I would always be an only child. It was, in a word devastating.

When the doctors came out with the news, I ran.

I kept running too, every day, until I had collapsed on the ground, vision lost with the dizziness it caused and heart struggling to beat in my chest. For years I ran as fast as I could for as long as I could, pushing myself further and faster each time and slowly increasing my physical ability.

When I started the academy I was the very bottom of the class. I was, simply put, the weakest of the bunch. I made up for the weakness in my body with the strength of my mind, asking constant questions in my attempt to understand chakra. It just didn't make sense. Most kids just took the information and ran with it, I wanted more.

I got kicked out of several classes for pestering my teachers with the constant, 'Okay, but why?'s. It was at my first teachers request I was moved to another class.

It was at my request that I move to a different one from that.

Iruka was the first teacher that took my quizzical self seriously and listened when I stayed in from recess, trying to understand in the most detail possible how everything worked. He was the only one to simply tell me that no one knew everything about chakra, and that very few people could answer the questions I was asking.

I was the only one who sat by Naruto, helping him with his work and explaining things when he didn't understand it at first. He wasn't nearly as dumb as people seemed to think he was, he just needed more one on one time than lectures provided and more stimulation than just talking about something would give him.

I was pretty sure he should have been on Adderall or Riddlin.

He was the only friend I had there at first, that changed quickly as with him came the trouble of Choji, Shikamaru and Kiba. They ditched most of the classes, sneaking off and causing trouble for anyone and everyone there was. More often than not I was dragged with them despite that fact that I wanted to learn what Iruka had to teach.

I can't even tell you how many hours I spent in detention.

I couldn't even be in the same detention as the others due to my after school 'Kunoichi' classes. I found them to be as interesting as dirt. All that came of them was knowing what flowers could kill a man and which classmates I wanted to give them to.

The only person I even spoke to there was little Hinata Hyuga, who was the most adorable little girl I'd ever seen. She was sweet, if shy and busy with her family trying to train her for her future. She came to school with more bruises than anyone I'd ever seen. It was concerning, but she promised me it was only so that she could become stronger. Which gave me an idea.

Since I was so terrifically terrible at taijutsu I asked if she could help me get better. Since she had little time I also suggested something that was proof of how awful an influence boys are.

We started ditching Kunoichi classes.

Hinata was worried about getting in trouble at first, but I reasoned that since they were optional and attendance wasn't counted we wouldn't get in trouble. I was right, and with the help of Hinata I began to slowly improve my limited physical ability.

We had to be careful though. If my heart beat too hard or too fast for too long I had this terrible tendency of fainting.

When not working with my friends or dinking off with the chaos causing quartet I worked on my own projects. In other words I went around, got broken appliances and electronics from people and did things with them. Sometimes I fixed them, sometimes I took things apart and made brand new things. I was steadily working my way up to 'mini helicopter' which would eventually become 'surveillance drone'.

All of these activities I reported happily to my mother when I saw here each day.

Then something that had completely blown my mind happened.

Sasuke Uchiha was suddenly all alone in the world.

* * *

No one really knew what happened that night when he finally came to school two weeks after the initial incident. Some gave him wide birth and whispered behind his back. Some didn't seem to know anything about what had happened. The poor boy was crowded with girls, yelling, pushing and screaming to get the coveted chair beside him.

All this I watched from my seat in the back row next to Naruto, a frown on my face. I didn't understand why they were doing something that so clearly made the boy feel uncomfortable. I gathered my papers together and stowed them in one of my folders before, with a quick whisper to Naruto, marched down the aisle.

I was obviously no match for the girls shoving each other in terms of physical ability. Instead I thought it out.

The way our classrooms were set up was simple. There were three rows of desks from front to back, with three desks in each row and three students to a desk. The chairs are not chairs but benches that are attached to and extend approximately sixteen inches forwards.

In the beginning there were more than three to a seat, but as the years progressed the curriculum got more difficult and the less determined or less capable students quite.

There is no getting kicked out of ninja school, if you stay then you stay whether you pass or fail your exams. These exams determine your class ranking and where you'll be placed after graduation. The graduation test is the only one that you required to pass, but if you do exceedingly well on the other tests then you can be put into classes with older children or given the opportunity to graduate early, though it is ill advised to do so unless it's War-Time.

As it was not War-Time and the only geniuses in the class were either lazy or qualified for it in one field we had no official prodigies and so were all roughly the same age.

Eight.

And most eight year olds only think of the quickest, to the point way of getting what they want, to go to it directly. Which is what the girls were doing right then. I ignored the tangle of limbs slipping into the row of desks behind the one Sasuke was sitting in, passing by Tobio and sitting down on Shino's desk.

The young bug user looked up at me and I smiled down at him, holding a finger to my lips before swinging my legs around and sliding off of the desk, dropping directly into the seat next to the very, very tense Uchiha.

His head snapped to me along with all of the girls, who stared slack jawed. I didn't even look at them as I placed my folders and books on the table, leaning forwards and starting to work again. I was sure that they would have tried to rip my face off but before they could, luckily for me, Iruka walked in and told everyone to go to their seats, leaving me sitting next to Sasuke, who sat by the wall, and Ino in the seat next to me, glaring daggers.

I was sure I was going to get shit for it later on but I didn't care. Sasuke needed someone to keep those girls off of his back as he tried to sort through his shit, and it was no skin off my bones to do it.

At least, it wasn't yet.

I could feel them staring at me, judging me, wishing for me to combust spontaneously. It made me nervous, their judgment on my back. I was a target.

My heart started beating faster.

I wrote down what was said and drew out plans for my next project, did anything to distract myself but I could still feel them. In my mind I heard whispers.

My pulse quickened further.

Plans and plots were notes that were passed from one person to another, glares that were aimed at me held more ill intent than they actually did.

My heart beat in my temples.

I was panicking for no real reason, only knowing that they were watching me and that they were not happy that I had stolen Sasuke's seat from them. These girls were being trained to kill, many of them were mean, cruel and had no problem in pushing others down to get what they wanted.

In my paranoia blackness touched the edge of my vision.

I lowered my forehead to the desk, my hand now shaking too badly to continue writing and I was no longer able to see the paper.

The world went away and a chunk of chalk struck my head.

* * *

When I came to I had a week of detention chalked up and marker all over my face. Looking around at the girls that were packing up their supplies, chatting with each other and making week end plans I realized I was a fool and that the only reason I was so freaked out was because I had stepped out of my comfort zone and had let my mind run away with me.

It was stupid, and I made a mental note not to let it happen again.

My papers were packed quickly, messily into their folder and I turned to Sasuke, who in turn glanced at me. I could see him trying to figure things out in his head.

"I'm Asuka," I greeted, extending me hand, "Asuka Suzuki. If you need a human shield I'm around," I offered, half smile tilting my lips.

Sasuke hesitated before taking my hand. "Sasuke Uchiha," he returned. He didn't say thanks, but I figured shaking my hand was as good as I was going to get.

"Cool. I've got to get home," I told him pushing myself up and, once again, sitting on the desk so I now faced the back of the room. I raised my hand to Naruto and Choji, as Shikamaru was still asleep. Naruto frowned at me and turned away, crossing his arms over his chest.

I resisted the urge to sigh. Naruto was my best friend and he was now jealous that I had chosen to sit with someone else.

"Children," I muttered in annoyance.

Sasuke snorted. "You are a child."

I looked down at him, smiling and swinging over the desk. "That doesn't make the rest of you any less annoying."

School was about to get more interesting.

* * *

Once everything let out and my training session with Hinata, which was really more my getting my ass handed to me by her, was over it was already late, the sun dipping low on the horizon. I walked out, ignoring the dirty look my supposed teacher was sending me and started the hunt for my lovely blond friend.

Naruto was the first person I had ever been friends with, the third person that I had come to truly care about.

Despite his lacking attention span the boy was a genius in his own right, in terms of setting traps and pulling pranks. He also had the irritating habit of being able to read me like a book. I barely had to say words sometimes to get my point across and he would pick up my train of thought and run with it.

Even when things got sad for me he was always around with a smile and willingness to attack anyone who tried to poke and prod at me for my interests and weaknesses.

In return I stuck by him even when people got to him the most, fed him and forced him to spend the night in times I wasn't sure his house was safe.

My father was rarely home, and my mother had never said anything against my doing so, so everything was fine. If it was possible I would have made him stay all of the time, but it just didn't work out that way.

I cared about him a lot, truth be told I might have been filling the shock of a void that the sudden lack of possible sibling had left me with with him. He'd never complained so I'd never stopped hanging out with him, scolding him lightly or correcting his manners. And he'd never stopped chatting with me, running with me or catching me when my heart tried to give out.

In some ways I loved him. In most ways, in fact. He was the best friend I had. He might as well have been family.

And for that reason I went to the places he frequented, and when he wasn't at the playground, his house or off bothering someone I went to the place I knew he would be.

I went to our place.

Our place was a hallowed out bit in a tree as old as the village, if not older, and could comfortably fit four adults, let alone two little kids. We had found it when exploring the woods near my house, in the older part of the village, mostly reserved for old or high ranking people. We didn't bother them so long as they didn't bother us, staying in the tree behind an old, mostly abandoned house. The only inhabitants seemed to be a bunch of dogs that ran around the walled in yard.

The houses in that area were old and traditional, set inside high stone walls with courtyards and koi ponds, slanting roofs and traditional walls.

All of this we could see from where our tree had been split by a lightning storm years and years ago.

It was in this gap of the somehow-still-alive tree that I found Naruto later that day.

It was not a hard climb, but it was not necessarily easy either. There were no branches that hung low enough for small children to get to, but through experimentation, curiosity and watching older ninja I had figured out how to perform the tree walking exercise.

Note: when your tendons are undeveloped your knees will not support you and your head will hit the tree. Advice? Take a page from a gecko and use hands and feet. Especially when one is eight. Naruto could not do this, and had to manage by scrambling up the side of the tree and using the wall that surrounded the house next to the tree as support when he ascended.

The little blond was sitting the corner, throwing the dulled kunai we found around the village at a target carved into the walls. There was a firm pout on his face.

I knocked on the wood and he looked over suddenly, apparently having not heard me come in.

"Hey," I greeted.

He said nothing, turning away. Which was worrisome. A quiet Naruto is not a good Naruto. I slipped in, walking over and plopping next to him on the wood we had sanded down to smoothness.

"Now you wanna sit with me," he grumbled, and I sighed.

"Lovely, I wasn't abandoning you," I said quietly.

He huffed. "Then why did you sit with Sasuke?" the other boys name was said with distaste dripping from the blonds lips.

"Because he needed a friend and those girl couldn't tell," I tried to explain, "He's all alone now and they don't seem to understand that he needs to not be crowded and fought over or treated like he's the greatest person ever. He doesn't need that and I was just trying to make sure he got some space," I explained, leaning over and using Naruto's shoulder as a pillow.

"But… Sasuke?"

Sasuke, the golden child of the class. The exact opposite of Naruto, who was treated like he was lower than dirt, Sasuke was treated like he was star of the classroom just for being an Uchiha. Where Sasuke was the star of any kind of anything Naruto was constantly beaten or shown up. The blond hated him.

No, he didn't hate him. I don't think Naruto could hate anyone. He was jealous though.

"You know you're my favorite person in the world right?" I asked, shifting so I could look at him. Naruto looked back at me, a dusting of pink on his cheeks at the statement. It always happened whenever I complimented him, and I enjoyed it immensely.

"You might like Sasuke more," he mumbled, sounding self-conscious.

"Nope," I reached up, poking his nose. "Sasuke isn't you, and you are not him, and you are and always will be my favorite."

Naruto held out a pinky. "Promise," he demanded.

I smiled and linked mine with his, shaking them thrice. "Promise," I pulled my hand back and made an x over my chest. "Cross my heart and hope to die, and should I lie I'll stick a needle in my eye."

Naruto laughed and I smiled in response. Before standing.

"Wanna come see my mom?" I asked, looking down. Naruto shrugged and stood up, brushing himself off.

"Sure," he agreed. He always seemed weird whenever my mother was brought up.

We climbed out of the tree, pausing midway when someone walked out of the house with the dogs. I couldn't feel him from where I clung to the tree with chakra warming my palms but that shock of white hair was unmistakable.

I grinned and waved when his head turned up to us. "Hey there static man!" I called.

My only response was a hand raised in return.

I now knew where Kakashi lived, which was pretty great. I could go and bother him now if I wanted to. He was only twenty four and to my knowledge his list of friends was limited to Gai and my father, who was a total flake by that point and might not have ever counted. Meaning that he needed someone to lighten his life a little bit. And I was just the person to do it.

Later.

For right then I had places to go and people to see.

Naruto jumped down after me, landing with a hard sounding 'oof!'. He was still working on the whole chakra thing, something I was trying to work with him, but we always got off track whenever that came up. It wasn't the best thing in the world but he made some progress. _Some_.

We walked out of the old neighborhood and down the road, talking about school, our friends, and the people that had been particularly horrible to Naruto and all of the awful things we could do to them.

I wasn't very creative in terms of coming up with pranks, but I could set them up once I knew what the plan was, and draw out the blue prints for it. The rest I left up to Naruto, the true king of mischief.

Eventually our conversation turned to Sasuke again and I explained to Naruto what had happened. The boy was understandably horrified, unable to comprehend why anyone would do that. I kept my mouth shut about it, feeling very well the weight that knowledge of the future put upon me.

For the most part I was okay with it, focusing on other things and keeping my mind as busy as my hands. It was easy to push thoughts of my future out of the front of my mind, but sometimes things came up and the guilt that my lack of actions to change the future created would come and punch me in the gut.

As we walked the path lead us along the edge of one of the many rivers that cut through the village, the banks running into a steep lift of terrain up to the path we took. The sun shone down, shadows casting long behind us and the sun almost directly in our eyes. It was as we were on this trail that a peer came into view, and upon that peer was perched the exact topic of our conversation.

Naruto and I paused, looking down at Sasuke. He looked back up at us before his frown, now ever-present it seemed, grew and he looked away suddenly, Naruto doing the same. I sighed quietly, for the third time that day at least. These boys were ridiculous and prideful.

I elbowed Naruto and he yelped loudly, drawing Sasuke's attention to us again. I jerked my head at Sasuke pointedly and he shook his head rapidly. I glared. He frowned. I growled. At last he relented and turned to the last Uchiha.

"Hey, teme!" He shouted.

Sasuke scowled. "What do you want, dobe?" he snapped. I saw the aggression spark Naruto's own irritation. Before he could retaliate I jumped in, hand on his forearm.

"Do you want to have dinner with us?" I asked.

Sasuke faltered, looking confused. "What?" he questioned.

"I said, 'do you want to have dinner with us'? Naruto is staying the night and no one else would mind if you did," realizing how it sounded I ducked my head, "I, um, I heard what happened, and I thought maybe you might not want to be alone…"

Machines I knew. Electricity, physics, principals and theory, all of this I could understand. People? People made me nervous. I don't know why, it was never anything that happened before, but it had been getting worse the more I grew up. People scared me, I didn't trust them unless I really knew them, and them I trusted maybe too much.

"Alright," Sasuke muttered, just barely loud enough for me to hear. My head snapped up, surprised before a smile lit my face.

"Cool! We've gotta swing by the hospital real quick though, if you don't mind," I gestured with my hands, "If you want to just meet us at my house you can do that too, the door's probably unlocked."

"I'll come," Sasuke stood up, climbing the bank to join us. I smiled at him and noticed a slightly uncomfortable look on his face.

"I'm not going to jump you," I blurted, startling him, "I don't mean to be mean, but I'm not sure why everyone loves you so much. You're just another guy really."

"Oh?" he looked somewhere between dubious and relieved.

"Yeah," I smiled at him.

"Come on already!" Naruto demanded suddenly and both Sasuke and I rolled our eyes, though mine was more good natured than his. Still we started our trek, Naruto and I talking about nothing important anymore.

The hospital came into view and we all walked in, Naruto and I waving to the woman at the front desk. She sent Naruto and somewhat dirty look but by then we were such a common sight that she no longer questioned us. Sasuke seemed to find it weird but I really didn't mind, leading our trio up the flight of stairs, up to the second floor and down the hallway. Naruto knew the way, and beat both of us to the door, yanking it open.

I slipped in, Sasuke behind me, and took the seat next to the still form in the bed. The heart monitor went off steadily, adding background noise. I heard Sasuke suck in a sharp breath at the sight of my mother.

She lay still, very, very pale. The only movement was in the rise and fall of her chest, her eyes closed and mouth pried open with tubed that kept her alive. She was thin, her bones nearly visible and showing no sign of waking up.

Considering she'd been in a coma for over three years it was unlikely that she would.

I started talking to her then, telling her all about the day, about what was going on now and how I had another friend to add to my collection and how we were all going to stay over at our house. There was no reply as I spoke to her, chattering on for almost an hour while the boys watched on, Naruto throwing in comments now and again while Sasuke seemed to try to figure out what was going on.

The poor boy seemed utterly confused.

I felt only a small amount of sympathy as I made my report to my mother, finally letting up after an hour. Once I was done talking to my mom I led the boys back to my house, letting Sasuke digest what he had just witnessed on the way. Once there I showed him where the spare key was in case he needed to get in at any time and brought them inside.

My father was nowhere to be found, as per usual. Ever since my mother fell into her coma he had… broke. I hadn't seen him for more than five minutes in the last three years. I had grown used to it by that point, and Naruto knew everything really, so by then there was no problem.

I made the boys eat a good dinner, almost force feeding Naruto his vegetables. Sasuke was more cooperative than him, thankfully, as I didn't think I had the energy for stuffing greens down the throat of two stubborn boys.

As dinner wound by there were passive aggressive jibs the boys sent to each other. I let them have at each other, knowing that Naruto wouldn't push things too hard. He wasn't a fan of Sasuke but he was far from mean.

When everyone was done eating I made the boys clean everything up. They did so without too much abjection, but Naruto did whine a lot. The brat.

While they were doing that I was pulling out the fold out couch, dressing it with sheets, pillows and an afghan.

"Sasuke!" I called, watching him poke his head out of the kitchen, soap bubbles in his hair.

I didn't ask.

"Are you gonna stay the night?" I questioned, holding up a third pillow.

The boy shook his head in denial, sending bits of foam flying. "No. I have to get ho-" he stopped, and I watched his expression fall into such a sad, depressed state that I felt my heart squeeze inside my chest. Had we given him such a good distraction that he had been able to forget, however briefly, that he was alone.

"Stay," we both looked over, surprised to see Naruto there, covered in soap bubbles, "She said there's room, and you still owe me a rematch," he grinned mischievously, holding up a hand full of foam.

For a second Sasuke looked confused before the barest lessening of sadness crossed his face and he nodded.

I just smiled and stretched the afghan out, happy to have my boys there with me. I would never say so out loud, but it got very lonely in that house sometimes.

* * *

_Don't walk behind me; I may not lead. Don't walk in front of me; I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend. - Albert Camus_


	7. Crazy

**Next Chapter, hooray! **

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed, I appreciate it!**

* * *

The girl was crazy, one Kaneki Ichiru decided as he stared at the children in the front lawn across the street. The house wasn't old but it was in a poor state, the grass around it overgrown and wild and the once tamed, well shaped rose bushes now climbing up the walls. The little girl that lived in the house with the chipped white paint was small, frail, and utterly insane.

As he watched she took apart and reassembled a set of leave blowers and fans that had been accumulated throughout the week when she wasn't as school. He had no idea what she was doing, only that she probably shouldn't have had that hack saw. Or the blow torch.

Unfortunately the sixty year old wasn't allowed to interfere now that she was going to the ninja school, taking after her _father_. The irresponsible man that was never around to keep his daughter from cutting her fingers off or lighting her hair on fire and wouldn't let the girl's poor mother die already. Instead he left an eight year old at home, alone except for the little demon brat and the Uchiha boy.

Who were now arriving with, of all things, a wheelchair!

The boys brought it along the sidewalk, pushing from behind and Kaneki's lips formed a frown. He didn't like the looks of this. He _really_ didn't like it when the girl started strapping the what-ever-that-hell-that-was to the back of the wheel chair with ropes, bungee cords, and what appeared to be duct tape, nearly covering the entire surface of the chair.

If they weren't ninja in training then he would have called the police, but they were not only mostly dead but also entirely uninterested in children these days. It irritated Kaneki to no end.

The old man watched from his front window as the girl pushed the boys into the seat of the wheel chair, climbing up and using the two boys to sit herself on in a disgraceful amount of casual contact. Kaneki squinted as she brought up a tangle of wires attached to a light switch, watching her flip it.

Immediately the newly created attachment roared to a clunky, angrily smoking life and the whole chair shook, causing the boys to latch onto the armrests and yelp. The Suzuki girl didn't seem to notice, instead grinning like a maniac when the fans started to spin and a fire lit behind them, sending the contraption shooting forwards at speeds a wheel chair was most definitely _not_ supposed to go. Kaneki watched in shock as the children flew down the sidewalk and out of sight in seconds, somehow managing to careen around the corner without crashing into anything. It disappeared around the Kaneko house, three children pressed against the back, one laughing and two screaming.

_Yes_, he decided when a plume of smoke rose from the other side of the block, _the girl was absolutely crazy._

* * *

_All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better. - Ralph Waldo Emerson_


	8. Happy Birthday Asuka!

**Chapter 7. **

**Where's the mayo: I would too, I love the idea of her building all of these things and dragging the boys with her when she tests them out. Good thing Naruto has that healing factor! **

**CuteMochi00: I thought it did too, I would love to do something like that. Thank you so much, I'm glad that you like them. **

**As for the length I don't plan it at all. The shortest one for this story is 258 words and the longest is 4,601. I don't plan them out, I just sorta go with the flow. **

**Izzyrawr: I'm glad you enjoyed it, sorry there's only a few chapters sight now. I'll try and update often and hopefully this chapter makes up for how short the last one was!**

* * *

"Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to you! Happy birthday dear Asuka… Happy Birthday to you!"

I laughed as I sat at the table, eyes on the disaster of a cake that my friends had baked. I was now officially ten, and the boys had been all but living with me for the last year and a half, and this was the first year we had celebrated my birthday. I always celebrated theirs, though Sasuke's had only come around once so far. Honestly last year I had forgotten it even existed.

My father had too.

This year however I had all of my friends with me; Naruto, Sasuke, Kiba, Shikamaru, Choji and Hinata had all come to attend my birthday party, gathered around my kitchen table and singing horribly off tune in the way that children do. I just sat there, grinning like mad while they did. I was excited. This was the first party I'd had in a long time and almost all of my favorite people were there.

We were gathered around my kitchen table on chairs and stools, everyone watching me as I closed my eyes, took a deep breath and blew out the candles.

_I wish to stay with my friends forever. _

When I opened my eyes I was met with half a dozen smiling faces, all aimed at me. I hadn't had many friends last time, and with my parents absent these kids were my family. They were the most important things. I had decided to be a ninja out of selfishness and the desire to live. Now I wanted to graduate, to become a ninja and stay with the people I cared about. And that made my heart all the more terrifying.

"What did you wish for?" Naruto asked, bouncing in his seat.

I shook my head. "If I tell then it won't come true!"

"Aw come on," Kiba whined, Akamaru joining him. I remained firm, looking away.

"Nope!"

"Can we have the cake now?" Choji asked, changing the subject.

I looked down at the cake, which was lopsided and only partially frosted, then at Naruto and Sasuke, who had nearly destroyed my kitchen in their attempt to make it. It still only looked half baked, but it was the thought that counted.

"Yeah," I agreed, "We can do cake, and then open presents." I took the knife that lay on the table, pushing it into the cake and cutting it into eight equal pieces, passing them out to my friends and leaving only one slice left on the plate.

I looked down at it, tentatively cutting away a corner with my fork and raising it to my mouth. An egg shell broke in my mouth and I winced, realizing that I was right. It was half baked. Somehow it managed to taste both salty and overly sugared at the same time, the chocolate that was supposed to flavor it seeming more like raw cocoa powder.

Kiba gagged on the side of the table, Shikamaru pushed his plate away and Hinata lowered her fork, swallowing thickly. Even Choji looked a little green around the gills.

"It's not that bad," Naruto tried to defend. Until he actually took his bite. He choked, spitting it out and Sasuke didn't even try.

"I think next time you should just buy it," I muttered, scooting away from the 'cake'. There were even chunks of soggy flower in it. I had no idea it was possible to mess up something that bad.

"Okay… all in favor of shoving this monstrosity down Naruto and Sasuke's shirts say 'aye'!" I called. Kiba called his agreement, Akamaru seconding the opinion. Shikamaru didn't say anything, just threw the 'cake' into Naruto's face. Choji, who _never_ wasted food, dumped both his and Hinata's on top of Sasuke's head and I stuffed mine down the back of Naruto's shirt, then did the same with the last piece and the front of Sasuke's. Neither one had time to run before they were covered in their failure, literally.

After that, true to my word, I opened the present that my friends had brought.

I ended up opening Naruto's first, tearing away the orange paper and pulling the lid and laughing when I dodged spring loaded snakes aimed at my face. Underneath the gag I found a real present, which gave me room for pause. There, sitting at the bottom of the box, was a pair of goggles.

I pulled the goggles out, finding them not swimming goggles but working ones, the exact kind I had actually been needing, hanging from a sturdy, green strap. I brushed back the singed edges of my hair and let them drop around my neck, my head too small for them just yet.

I grinned widely at my best friend, dragging him into a hug as I thanked him sincerely. He turned pink and laughed it off.

"It's no big deal," he dismissed, and I rolled my eyes and sat back.

The next present was pushed towards me and I took it, finding it somewhat chewed on and wet.

"That ones from Akamaru." I looked up at Kiba, brows furrowing. The puppy looked very proud of himself so I assumed it couldn't be too bad. I hoped.

I opened the box, which was very heavy and somewhat damp, growing more and more worried as a strange smell hit me. I peered inside and paled.

_Oh my god. _

"It's… a bunny." I murmured, lifting it out of the box. "A dead one."

In my hand was the limp form of a tiny rabbit, clearly a baby. I looked at it, then at Akamaru, who was sitting on the table with his tail wagging. I smiled tensely and thanked him, secretly weirded out. I knew animals gave dead prey as gifts but I had never expected to get one. Ever. It was still and small in my hand, and utterly awful. But Akamaru was proud, so I didn't say anything.

Kiba's gift, in slightly better condition, was thrust under my nose then too. "Open this one now!" he demanded, and I took it from him wearily.

Unwrapping it I pulled the box apart, finding inside something less gross than the dead bunny now sitting at my feet.

I had to smile. It was paper mache, though what it was supposed to be I wasn't entirely sure. It was painted in browns and greys, and if I was being honest it looked like shit with white stripes. I looked from it to him, trying not to give away my confusion.

Kiba looked sheepish. "It's supposed to be a dog…"

"It's… interesting?" I offered, setting it on the table. "Thanks Kiba, it was a good effort," I told him, snickering a little bit.

Kiba groaned. "Hana said I should have gotten you a bracelet," he grumbled, flopping his head on the table. I patted him like a dog.

Shikamaru shoved a bag at me and I caught it, noting the half assed attempt at looking pretty.

"Your mom watched you put it together didn't she?" I asked wryly. Shikamaru nodded, muttering about how troublesome it had been to get me something.

I pulled the paper out, finding a puzzle box and a mini set of wire cutters, strippers and a small roll of insulated tape. I pulled them all out, setting them on the table one by one before I found something else at the bottom.

Out came the last item, a bracelet that was shaped like a wrapped around wrench. I smiled at him.

"That was surprisingly thoughtful."

Shikamaru's eyes rolled. "I was just going to get you the puzzle. Mom made me do more."

I snickered quietly and leaned forwards to take the box that Choji pushed my way.

"I didn't really know what to get you," he admitted sheepishly.

I shook my head. "You didn't have to get me anything so whatever it is'll be great," I was sure.

I pulled the paper away from the neatly wrapped box, unfolding the flap and peaking in. I smile and pulled out the spinning spice rack, filled with spices. I could definitely use that. Attached to the top was a butterfly charmed necklace on a thin silver string.

I pulled it off, looking at it closely. "It's pretty," I commented, "You're so sweet Choji."

The boy turned light pink under my praise and looked down. "I asked my mom what she thought," he tried to dismiss, but I didn't let him.

"It was sweet," I insisted, and the boy didn't object further.

Hinate's gift was next, set in a small white box without paper. I took it from her, pulling the lid off. Inside lay a pair of sturdy, black leather gloves. When I looked up at her she was looking down.

"For your hands," she managed, drawing my attention right there.

At ten years old my hands were calloused and scarred thanks to the work I did. Cuts from wires and knifes, burns from fire and electricity combined with callouses brought on by my practice with ninja weapons had them far from smooth and covered in scars, criss-crossing the thin digits.

"Thank you," I hugged the girl, startling her into turning bright red. She was so cute. Adorable child. Absolutely adorable.

All eyes turned to Sasuke who stared back at everyone.

"What?" he asked, sitting back, "I made the cake."

We stared at him before Naruto broke the silence, giving a shout.

"Sasuke you jerk! You can't go to someone's party and not give them anything!"

Sasuke bristled immediately. "I gave her a cake!"

"That's difr'nt!"

"Is not!"

"Is so!"

"Is not!"

"Is so!"

"Is not!"

"Is so!"

"Is not!"

"It doesn't matter you lame brains!" I shouted above the argument. It did not good as it had already dissolved into a fist fight, one that Naruto was losing badly. I brought my new goggles up over my eyes and dove into the fray.

Somehow we managed to drag Kiba in with us while Choji, Shikamaru and Hinata watched on.

* * *

For my birthday Sasuke gave me a toxic cake and split lip.

I didn't care, by the time all was said and done everyone was sleeping over, camped out in one of the only three parts of my house not covered in my projects, the living room. By then it might as well have been Sasuke and Naruto's bedroom.

My friends crashed around the room, Naruto and Sasuke had curled together on one end of the couch, both sporting black eyes. Choji lay back on the opposite end, Shikamaru leaning against him as pillow, completely hidden under the fleece I had tossed over them. Hinata had taken up the only solo chair, snuggled under a cotton blanket. I was in the middle of the couch with Kiba, leaning against him as he leaned against me, Akamaru curled up between us.

I watched my companions, people I had grown to love beyond character infatuation and into true friends, true family, moon light streaming through the thin curtains. The light lit their faces softly and I smiled to myself, snuggling under the afghan with Kiba and allowing my eyes to close.

This life was pretty good.

* * *

_The words that escape a friend's mouth are "I'll be there when you say you need me" but the words that are unheard from a true friend's heart are "I'll be there... whether you say you need me or not." - Unknown  
_


	9. Kakashi

**Chapter 9 has arrived! **

**Where's the mayo: No kidding! It sure was something huh? Thanks for always reviewing, I appreciate it.**

* * *

Early morning mist floated on the ground, wisps of white drifting in the air. They struck and split into lazy curls around the tombstones.

Asuka Suzumi was there, clouds between her knees and smears of oil ever present on her cheeks. She stood in front of the memorial stone in the center of the yard, hands clasped behind her back and goggles hanging from around her neck. Green eyes were set on the stone and dark hair fell around her, soft curls brushing her cheeks.

To the left of the girl was a man that was almost always there, white hair spiking wildly and a single eye fixed on the rock in front of him. Instead of the civilian clothes of the girl he was dressed as any ninja was, long blue sleeves and flak jacket marking him just as clearly as the headband pulled down over his left eye.

That was Kakashi Hatake, the Copy-ninja, son of the White Fang, student of Fourth Hokage and ex ANBU captain. Anyone would tell you he was usually there, just as anyone would tell you he was a good ninja.

Being that good ninja he was an observant person, even if it didn't always look like it with his lazy demeanor and habit of constant tardiness.

This observant nature was what had first lead him to noticing the girl that had the strangest habit of stalking him. To the stone, around his family's house, even around the village. His coworkers, notably Genma and Anko were convinced it was a school yard crush. He was roughly fifteen years her senior, so that would be a bit awkward.

Whatever it was she stood at his side in front of the grave at least once a week, two flowers brought, staring up at the stone silent and unmoving. The only time he saw the girl still was then. It happened every Wednesday without fail, whether there was school or not, and she would continue to follow him around for the day once he left. If he left. He normally did when the girl was there, especially when her stomach started growling.

According to some people she would show up even when he was out on missions and stand there for a good hour before leaving to cause havoc on the village with her experiments. The girl was constantly getting in trouble with ANBU, all most all of whom she could now recognize without their masks, a dangerous thing if she wasn't so quiet and young. If he wasn't around to bother on Wednesdays she would go out and find someone else, usually Tenzo or Yugao depending. Her chakra senses were impressive, especially for a child, and he still couldn't break her out of the habit of calling him Static Man.

It had been interesting when they'd confronted her about it and she explained that they felt different, that he felt like the gathering of a storm, Yugao felt like a stream rushing around ones ankles and Tenzo, much to the former ROOT members surprise, felt like 'The potential for life'. That wasn't something a ninja heard often, and since being informed of that the twenty one year old had grown fond of the girl, letting her trail him without much difficulty.

Yugao took a somewhat different approach, turning it into a challenge and a game. Instead of just letting Asuka follow her around aimlessly like the boys did she took winding paths and made increasing efforts to loose the girl before the sun touched the horizon. If Asuka could tag her by the end of the day the ANBU would buy her ice cream.

Kakashi did neither of these things, for the most part only acknowledging the girl when she would ask him something, which wasn't as often as he had expected after hearing her first three academy teachers warn him about letting her stick around.

In fact most of the time she spent with him was silent, either walking by his side or sitting next to him, at which point he would be given a peak into what it was she kept in the bag almost always slung around her shoulder.

At first glance it was junk, tangles of wires and hunks of metal that looked useless, but he watched her out of the corner of his eye as the girl tinkered and twisted, what she was doing it was anyone's guess. Even the genius was at a loss for what some of them were. Many looked like lighting fixtures or plug ins, some resembling the inner workings of computers.

If it wasn't wires she was working with it was pens she was using to write. And that was truly confusing. He had no clue what she was writing, it didn't look even remotely similar to what was taught in the academy or any other clan in the village. That he questioned her on. She looked up at him, then back down at the paper, seeming to hesitate, as if she didn't want him to know, which was strange because in all other experience if someone asked her anything the girl would go off on a twenty minute monologue (at the shortest).

"It's English," she said at last, and Kakashi nodded as if it made sense.

"English," he repeated, only hinting at a question.

"No one else knows it," she brought a finger to her lips, "It's a secret."

Kakashi allowed her a smile, amused by the child. "Do you have a lot of secrets?" he teased.

"Don't all ninja?" her head was tilted innocently but something in her eyes made the sharingan users stomach turn. That wasn't innocence, it was something else entirely.

"I suppose so."

He knew that look. That look between guilt and pride. It wasn't something he should have seen on a child that had never stepped foot outside the village walls.

From then on he didn't object to seeing the girl as much, allowing her to tag along with him. He got the feeling that if he did he would learn something important.

* * *

That important thing, he discovered later on, was not letting Asuka get anywhere near gunpowder or paper towel roles, for the sake of his eyebrows and remaining eye.

* * *

Five months after what had been dubbed The Great Rocket Failure Kakashi was sitting on a park bench, reading his book while Asuka sat next to him, looking through a very old electronics manual and scratching in corrections, frustration clear in the pinch of her brow.

"Something wrong?" he asked casually, drawing green eyes up to his.

Her lips pursed in a pout. "These people are wrong."

"You're in the academy, shouldn't you be reading up on chakra or something?" that's what non genius's did right?

The girl ducked her head, her pout turning into a downright scowl.

"Non of them can tell me what I want to know. All of it is just how to use it, not what it is," her mouth was open to say more before it snapped shut and she looked away, again defying her teachers report of too many questions. Kakashi filed the occurance away, as he did all, and allowed them to fall back into their companionable silence. If the girl wanted him to know something she would tell him.

The next words spoken _did_ come out as a question.

"I know you're busy and all but do you think you could help me with taijutsu?" she asked some time later, not looking at him. "I'm not bad at it but… I'm weak."

Kakashi looked down at her in surprise at the sudden request before his eye crinkled in a smile. "I'm busy, but I think I know someone who can help you."

* * *

Two days later he was standing in the hospital next to Gai, as well as Yugao and Tenzo, who had grown quite fond of their little stalker, talking to one of the doctors while Asuka lay in one of the rooms, hooked up to an IV and heart monitor that reported unsteady beat.

"She seemed so youthful, I was certain that she would have been able to make that fiftieth lap," Gai was telling the doctor. The woman looked at him strangely.

"Sir, Asuka Suzuki has a hole in her heart."

Kakashi, for reasons he didn't feel like placing, felt cold.

Before Gai could speak he did. "Is it safe for her to be working in the Academy?" it wasn't like it was easy on the cardio. The woman in front of them sighed, looking inside the open door where the girl lay, eyes closed but to the ninja clearly awake.

"It can't do much harm," she stated, "If the girl lives past ten it will be a miracle."

The four adults looked at each other, no one sure what to say except Gai, who had burst into tears about how youthful it was that Asuka still wanted to be a ninja, declaring that her youth was great indeed and she should wear more green.

* * *

The next day she had hunted down him and Gai and requested the green ninja's help again, promising to try harder not to pass out from the exertion. When Kakashi looked at her he saw the resolve that their village was known for.

Determination set her jaw and the Will of Fire burned in her eyes.

Really, there was no way Gai would have refused.

* * *

"Who do you visit?" Asuka asked him, almost two years after she had begun following him around. Kakashi looked away from the stone, towards the girl, then back again. It was the first time she'd spoken in the graveyard.

"My best friend. Obito Uchiha," he nodded to the name and Asuka made a small 'oh', looking up at the name. "And," he added as an afterthought, "Rin Nohara."

Asuka hummed softly in thought, head tilting. "My grandma's up there. Nanao Suzuki, and my grandpa too, Kouji. I didn't meet them," she admitted. For a long time Kakashi thought that was all she was going to say until; "Do you think they'd mind if I visited them too?"

Kakashi thought about the girl, her penchant for explosions, and her habit of taking in strays, and the wild ideas of hers that somehow worked out in the end.

"I don't think they would."

The next week there were four flowers instead of two.

* * *

Five days after my eleventh birthday I opened the front door and found three small packages and envelope in front of it, laying in a pile. None of them were very well wrapped, something I didn't really care about. Curious as to what it was I dragged them in, the biggest one roughly the size of a bread box and the smallest package barely big enough to hold a pencil case.

I pulled the envelope open first, taking out a small card with a rough scribble of a dog on it that was signed without a name. I knew who it was though, reading out the _Keep trying to catch me _on it before taking out the second part, a coupon for Ice cream.

The smallest package I opened, finding, strangely (or maybe not) a bright green jumpsuit. Made of spandex. I snorted as I folded it and put it away, glancing down at the scaring over my knuckles. Thanks to Gai and Hinata I was actually pretty good at taijutsu, assuming it was a test of 'beat this shit out of this person' and not 'try and outlast this person'. Speed and traps were my only real strong points when it came to ninjaness.

In the biggest box was a plant, infused with familiar chakra and nearly glowing it's leaves were so green. At that I smiled wide, picking up the bonsai. I could feel the strength that Yamato, Tenzo, has put into it. If it ever wilted I would be amazed, hopefully the ANBU has also put some extra water in there, as rarely did any of my possessions that were not fire proof survive.. With great care I set the plant up on the coffee table, where it would hopefully be safe.

The last box held a book roughly the side of the common dictionary labelled _The Secrets of Chakra. _

I though my cheeks would tear from all the smiling I was doing. I was going to have to do something big for their birthdays this year.

Idly I wondered how Yugao felt about fireworks.

* * *

_Do not train a child to learn by force or harshness; but direct them to it by what amuses their minds, so that you may be better able to discover with accuracy the peculiar bent of the genius of each." -Plato _


	10. Last Year Preperations

**Vaeius: I'm glad to make you smile, I hope you keep liking this story!**

**Harmonic Bunny: 4:46 is the time for sleep! That is the funniest mental image though, it's definitely something that would happen. **

_**Kakashi comes home from a mission on his birthday and there's a party waiting for him inside. Halfway through everyone starts going outside and he, being led by Asuka, joins them on the street. They all turn around to face the house. Asuka is giggling madly, bouncing on her feet with a light switch in hand. Kakashi frowns, noticing that the wire it's attached to leads to his house. His mouth is open to ask what it's for when the switch flips. **_

_**The entire sky is lit up with the fireworks. **_

_**Kakashi has to find a new house. **_

_**The owner of the Ice Cream Parlor is putting his kids through college with the money that Yugao has to spend. **_

**Sabie0521: Nope, Kakashi had no idea that her heart was messed up. Her friends have a vague idea, they all know that she can't do things for very long or she feints or has to sit down for a while but no one really knows why, except maybe Hinata and Shikamaru. **

**As for how hard things will be I guess it depends. Things are going to get a lot harder now that she's a ninja and we're dropping into the real plot so in that sense it will definitely be getting more difficult. In relation to her heart it's a little more complicated. You'll see. Thanks for reviewing, I appreciate it! **

* * *

It was my last year in the academy and things were, well, I don't know what they were. I was starting to get nervous, finicky, and it showed. I started going over everything I knew almost obsessively, writing constantly and filling notebook after notebook with timelines, information and maps. I think I scared the boys. My bedroom was filled with tacked up information and piles of papers that no one except me could decipher. My inventions, while still for the most part fun, had also taken a turn towards the darker path. They got smaller, more explosive, and more aimed. I began gathering together scrap metal and molding them together, using fire and hammers until I abandoned them in favor of molds and molten iron, all put together in the shed behind my house.

It was in there that all of the dangerous things were kept. There were radios and cameras too small to be noticed held in plastic bags, carved molds and their products sitting in lines on shelves. I was trying to arm myself with a personal industrial revolution.

There were holes in trees in training ground, not always ones that were supposed to be there. Sometimes I failed spectacularly, sometimes I almost succeeded.

It was difficult, a work in progress that I could not yet rely on enough to work with my hands instead of yanking strings from behind trees.

For the time being I had to focus on the regular ninja tools instead of the weapon I was trying to create. Which was probably a good thing, seeing as my grades in that class could have been better.

Even with Gai's help my stamina was still lower than almost all of my friends, the exception being Shikamaru, though I hardly counted him. He never tried. Ever. This meant that whenever I got into a fight I had to end it quickly.

I can honestly say I was no longer the weakest in my class. Through hard work and a near lack of self-preservation I now ranked higher than Sakura and Ino in physical aspects, and fought for the top space in written grades with the former. I needed to be in the top space by graduation, I had to be.

Sasuke was top in physical, there was no one who could beat him there that the teachers would acknowledge, which would, if my memory served, get me paired with him for balance, assuming my plan worked.

Naruto was still in the last for everything, in spite of mine and Sasuke's attempts to help him. The kid just wasn't book smart. Which isn't to say he wasn't cunning. That child could pull off maneuvers that no one else was crazy enough to try and succeed at whatever he was trying to do. So while his grades were shit he would be a master at trapping if he put his mind to it. He got in trouble like no other though, he, Shikamaru, Kiba, Choji, Sasuke and I were dragged along with him.

So, unfortunately, that meant I was still getting detentions.

Which in all honesty was spent doing more and more crunch work before everyone graduated. I needed to be with Naruto and Sasuke. Sakura was currently a fangirl that would probably do, well, nothing until she was snapped forcibly into action. She would be useless, and in all honesty Sasuke and Naruto did not need her around. She would stroke Sasuke's already large ego and crush Naruto's spirits without a second thought. She already did whenever the boy tried to talk to her.

The respect I'd once held for her, watching her destroy puppets and refuse to be left behind anymore was now gone, replaced by irritation and a fierce protectiveness for my boys.

I was going to stay with them, as long as I possibly could.

* * *

I had already met and befriended most of the future Rookie nine, with the exceptions of Sakura and Ino, who were just too obsessive right then for me to care much about. There was only one that I hadn't held a conversation with yet, something that was fixed by Iruka.

After the third time I accidently set our desk on fire Iruka moved me from sitting between Sasuke and Naruto to the seat up at the front with one Shino Aburame, who I'd never actually spoken to before.

I sat next to him, spread out my things and blocked out Iruka's ramblings on the code of shinobi. I already knew that, serve your village no matter what, follow orders, blah blah blah. We'd been learning this for the past six years.

Shino said nothing, I said nothing. I couldn't tell if he had even looked at me when I sat next to him. The boy was odd.

Class dragged on as I wrote quickly, scratching diagrams and formulas and trying to figure out how to get my hands on fireworks that I didn't make myself. I could cook up gunpowder without any trouble at all, though saltpeter was a little harder to get than I would like and I was pretty sure there was a law in the works that would ban me from buying sulfur. Charcoal was just burnt wood, something that I would never run out of.

That was fine, I was working on refining something I needed more than that. I just didn't know the exact process needed to make it. I had an idea on what I needed. Potassium Nitrate, Sulfuric Acid, Nitric Acid, Cotton and Hemp, maybe some kind of unstable plastic, Nitroglycerine, Petroleum Jelly and Acetone. With all that I could maybe make Cordite. Given that some these combined would make the others which made the process delicate.

I already had an abundance of copper and hard plastics, as well as a whole stack of old lead cups, and pipes that had come from condemned houses.

I was just writing down how I might find Nitric Acid when I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. There, crawling over to me, was a small black bug. I stared at it, train of thought broken. It was… weird.

Three segments, six legs made it an insect. The middle was grey and looked a little fuzzy. I had never seen anything like it. So I did what anyone would.

I poked it with the tip of my pencil.

It squirmed and retreated back towards Shino, scuttling across the wood. I frowned, resisting the urge to keep poking it and possibly stab it. Shino would not be pleased. He wouldn't be pleased with my practice of lighting ants on fire with spy glasses.

The bug crawled up its owner/houses sleeve and I tilted my head, leaning closer. I'd always been curious about the Aburame, even before my untimely demise. There were just so many things that were never clarified about them, it piqued my interest.

"Hey, Shino, can I ask you a thing?"

I was relatively sure he blinked.

"You just did."

"Smart ass," I accused. "Yes or no?"

I couldn't really tell what he was thinking but the boy nodded, chin dipping below his collar. "Yes, you may."

"What's it like having bugs under your skin?" I asked, twisting on the bench and facing him.

I could barely see his brow arch above his dark glasses.

"What is it like not to?" he returned, and for that I had no answer.

"It's uh… I dunno."

"Neither do I."

And that was the end of that.

* * *

Shino didn't talk to me against that day, or try to strike up a conversation the next. It was Friday before he talked to me again, and that was a question about what I was doing.

I looked up from where I was stabbing holes into the desk. I saw stabbing, it was more like reinforcing grooves that generations of children had put into the wood, making their mark and building upon the vandalism of those that came before them.

"I'm expressing my frustration in a manner that won't get me yelled at," I explained, carving away at the straight line.

"Why are you frustrated?" Shino quizzed. From the desk directly behind me I could feel the slight shift in Shikamaru's chakra that happened when he started paying attention to someone. Choji's chip crunching paused as well. It never ended well for others when I was irritated. I blew off steam by blowing up buildings. They had also learned over the years that I had quieter, equally dangerous ways of calming myself.

"I'm trying to figure out a way to make a triple-base, slow burning, high powered explosive. I have the theoretical knowledge but I'm more mechanic than chemist, so it's really hard and I don't have access to the materials I need to succeed. Cotton, Nitroglycerine and Petroleum Jelly are easy to get but I don't know where to get Sulfuric and Nitric Acid or Potassium Nitrate. I can probably make the last one myself just those other two are hard to get to. And on top of that my prototypes keep gumming up because there's too much charcoal in the powder-" I cut myself off, realizing that Shino probably hadn't wanted to know all of that. "Sorry," I muttered.

"You should go to the hospital," Shino commented. "Why? Because they might have the chemicals you need."

I stared at him blankly, unsure what to say. Why hadn't I thought of that? The nurses all knew and loved me. Or at least pitied me enough to be nice. I was a fool not to think of it earlier!

"Shino," I asked, "Would it hurt your bugs if I hugged you?"

The Aburame was silent, his mouth partially opened in what I could only assume was surprise. Slowly he shook his head back and forth. "I do not believe so."

I grinned widely and tossed an arm around the boy, yanking him into a hug. "You're a wonderful friend!" I declared.

I heard a muffled "Thank you?" and ignored the itch of a bug crawling across my stomach.

* * *

Turns out the hospital had exactly what I needed. And with the puppy eyes and a few tears (and possibly the threat of fire branding a house or two) I was walking away from my daily talk with my mother with a backpack full of books and dangerous chemicals.

Apparently my gleeful expression was so scary that Kakashi felt the need to stop in the middle of street, ask me what I was planning and make a quick getaway when I smiled sweetly at him.

Smart man.

* * *

It wasn't long enough before it was graduation day. We all knew it, we were all prepared, even Naruto. For the past six months our friend group had been doing out damndest to help him.

By some kind of miracle we succeeded.

Naruto couldn't make three regular clones. No, no way in hell. It was just impossible for him to use so little chakra. It was like trying to push a river though a kitchen sink. So we found a way around that, with the help of Hinata and the brain of Shikamaru. Instead of just making three, he would make three dozen.

Hopefully he wouldn't be counted off for that.

With the help of Shikamaru's mother we had also managed to teach him Shadow Clones. It had been my idea, of course. I had mentioned it during lunch one day, about the technique I had read in a book. From there Naruto had scoffed and called it useless until I explained what it could mean if he managed to get it right.

Blue eyes had grown wider with the possibility of pranks and new information that he didn't have to worry about actually being hurt getting and before long we were on our way to Shikamaru's house, bound for the adult in the village that probably liked Naruto the most.

See, when you weren't being disrespectful, mean or dismissive to him, Naruto was actually a very nice person. He was by no means calm, but when Shikamaru had invited everyone to his house under orders of his mother Naruto had appeared on the doorstep last, shifting nervously from foot to foot with a handful of daisies, ripped from the roots.

It had taken her all of five minutes to decide that he was more useful than Shikamaru and whisked him away into the kitchen to put the flowers into a vase and put the little jinchuriki to work.

When we brought our idea to her she had been reluctant, probably because the jutsu required so much chakra to complete. That had been her excuse at the time. I waved it away, telling her about how Naruto had more chakra than the rest of us put together.

Yoshino had agreed at last, and together we all learned it. Nearly dropped Shikamaru and I on our asses. Naruto not so much. He could now make regular clones and Shadow Clones.

So when graduation day came I was confident he would pass with flying colors.

I was more worried about myself. People would be scrutinizing my every move as I stood in front of them, making copies of myself.

When my name was called I stood up from my desk, took a deep breath and walked to the door, my defective heart pounding in my ears.

* * *

_There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure. - Colin Powell _


	11. Testing, Testing 123

**Back with 11!**

**Okay so first off I know there's lots of errors, I'm sorry. I don't have a beta so most of what I do is just what I write and toss out. I reread my stuff later and usually fix things. The mixing up of the 'you' 'yours' and 'you're' is usually the fault of spell check, automatically changing what I have. I can normally catch it but it can be harder sometimes than others. If you see major ones please feel free to tell me and I'll try to go back and find them. **

**On to reviews!**

**Harmonic Bunny: That is the longest review I have ever seen! You... kind of just read my mind with one of those things, which is a little creepy and very impressive. God, Kakashi is the best. You have so many great/terribly mean ideas for him it's wonderful. Fun Fact Asuka only tests the really-likely-to-explode things on people she likes and wants to impress so you've got a pretty accurate possibility there(except it might not be and accident .). It would totally be Asuma that taught it to Kakashi, I can't imagine anyone else. Ino I have mixed feelings about because on one hand she doesn't take shit and on the other she's a little mean and really obsessive. Pre-shippuden anyone was pretty annoying now that I'm thinking about it...**

**Sabie0521: I always wondered why when in reincarnations people just dropped their entire lives and just about any other skills they had in it except maybe rudimentary fighting abilities or a couple other languages. You can do so much with knowledge of this world, not just with future happenings but also with practical uses. **

**sharkswillruledaWORLD: First off, you have an awesome name! Sharks are the absolute best. Thanks for your reviewing, I really appreciate it! I couldn't help but incorporate some familiar things based on observation and logic that I came up with, it was too hard to resist. Hope this chapter lives up to your expectations!**

**Tough chick: I'll try to keep it going as long as I can, but I sometimes loose interest or see too many flaws with things and I end up giving up on them. I don't think that will happen this time, I have too many ideas for Asuka. **

**Freckled Mess: I'm glad you think so, and yes, I do. I'm sorry. **

**Lady Icicle: Spelling errors are the worst! I need a beta but I have this problem where I either don't trust someone with my writing(I've got one friend who tears into things so much I've actually cried) or I don't want to bother them with asking for help. I'm glad that you like this, the mad scientist thing was something I was a little worried about because I don't actually know a whole lot about science, but I've been doing a lot of research for this story so I think I've got a decent handle on how to proceed. **

**I absolutely love Tenzo, it makes me so sad that there's not more out there with him in it. **

**Loiosh311: Thank you!**

**kimchi759: I'm so sorry about the mistakes. Really, I tried to find as many as I could before posting everything but I guess I missed a lot. I'll try and go back and fix as many as I can. **

**As for the hole in her heart it doesn't have an actual name. This is because it's actually based off of something that my grandfather had when he was a child. They gave him ten years after diagnosis, expecting him to die at about thirteen. This was years ago and I never got to ask if he knew what it was called before he died so I'm just working off of what I do know and what I've learned from various anatomy classes. **

**Thank you for pointing our specific mistakes, I'm going to go fix as many as I can. **

**Naruto just climbed up the tree, kinda using the wall as leverage. Sasuke was admitted a little out there but I had to push it a little to get things the way I needed them. **

**It's funny that you mention protege's because at first I had it prodigies and I was told that was wrong. Not really sure what to do with that. And the comma's. Almost always I get told I use too many of them. **

**I'm really glad that you liked it even with all of the mistakes, thank you for taking the time to review all of those time. It means a lot to me. **

**Onward!**

* * *

It was nerve wracking. My hands were shaking, my pulse was leaping and a cold sweat had broken out across my skin. Iruka and Mizuki sat at their judging tables, eyes one me, both looking friendly. There was a third party with them, one that made me pale considerably. My first teacher at the Academy took up the last seat, sharp eyes locked on me and back ramrod straight.

Rin Kaguya was a stern man of regal bearing, his eyes marking him a member of the Hyuga even if his surname did not fit the description. He was tall and proud, brown hair chopped just at his shoulders and jawline harp enough to slice metal.

He was of the firm belief that children should be seen and not heard, and instruction should be taken without question.

I held no fondness for him or his teaching style. In return he held a great deal of antipathy for me and my desire to know more than what he put up on the chalk board.

When his eyes landed on me I saw them narrow and his already thin lips disappeared entirely. My trembling hands clasped firmly behind my back and I stood in front of them, prepared for the practical portion of the exam. We had already given in out written papers, which I knew I had done well on, this last part I only needed to be proficient.

"Asuka Suzuki?" Iruka asked, a formality.

I nodded, squaring my shoulders and taking a deep breath. If I feinted here I would never live it down.

Mizuki pushed forwards a small pouch across the desk, one I accepted and refrained from opening. Not yet. "First off," he began, tilting his head off to the left (mine not his), "get as close to the middle of that target as you can. You have three kunai and three shuriken. You may begin when ready."

I wasn't ready, not even close. All of my doubts and fears slammed into me, threatening to sweep me off of my feet and into an ocean of regrets and what-ifs. Mechanically I reached into the thick leather and pulled out the four pointed stars, looking them over without really seeing a thing. My hands were still shaking.

I couldn't stay still forever, I knew, locking up would only lower my grade and I had to, _had_ _to_ pass.

_Why though?_

I had already changed the timeline. It wasn't major but it had happened. My boys were already friends, they could and would work together. Wasn't that enough? I hadn't even been thinking when I'd made this decision, it was split second, stupid, ridiculous. What had I been thinking?

_I can't do this. It's too much, it's impossible, I've spent years working hard and getting stronger, fighting a hole that creeps through my chest and risking limbs and breathe for what? A future as a murderer? Why? _

_I should back out, I should give up, go home, give someone else my notes and move on to be a nice shop keeper, maybe sell fireworks. That would be nice right? _

Without thinking I threw.

The star sunk deep into the wood of the target, two circles off center. I flinched, listening to pens touch paper and Kaguya scoff quietly.

_What was I thinking? That I could do something like this, I'm a true fool. I wasted years of my life on something that would only end it sooner. _

I threw again.

One circle off.

_I was going to fail, I would never get past anything. Their eyes were on my back, judging me. I was in the field, the boys around me, me useless for my stupid heart. _

_I was standing in the school playground, above a stunned Sasuke whose rear was planted firmly on the ground. Silence was around us before Naruto broke into a wild cheer. Iruka smiled and wrote down my score on his clip board. _

I threw.

The second ring was marked with steel.

The knives came out then, three, each one heavy and cold in my scarred fingers, lines crossing from wire and blade slices, patches visible from burns. I readied one of the kunai.

_Some dark figure had a little blond boy cornered, their head wide open as they drew back to strike him. I threw and missed entirely. The blow landed. The boy fell still. _

_I was in the training ground, flinging blades under the careful eye of a girl with brown hair and a pink shirt. Off to the side two boys were in a spar, cheered on by a man of frightening exuberance. _

The first blade flew.

Edge of the center ring.

_Red clouds marked their arrival, straw hats tipped on their heads. Nine bodies were dragged across the ground, countless other laying in their wake. I watched their back, heart finally giving up. _

_My body moved without my telling it to, catching a punch aimed at my head and twisting, flinging the assailant, a year my senior, over my right hip, where he fell end over end. _

The second left my fingers and clipped the edge of the first.

_Orange hair and ringed eyes. The man rose above the village, floating like the clouds he wore. Arms extended. The world exploded. My end came. And so did my mothers._

_The practice field was empty save me and the contraption that held an L shaped hunk of metal. A string lead away from it and I hid behind a tree. I yanked the string, the sound barrier shattered and when I peaked around the wood there was a perfect hole in the target. The weapon smoked from one end, otherwise unharmed. I had finally succeeded. _

I threw the final weapon.

Bull's eye.

I turned back to the teachers, standing still until Kaguya told me to start my forms, pale eyes cold and judgmental.

I did so, settling into the familiar stance, feet apart and eyes forwards. This I could do.

Back fist, reverse punch-

_Ice touched the ground, darting from water and towards my friend. The other leapt in the way, needles impaling him. He fell to the ground. The other screamed. _

Step-through round kick, shuffle-up side kick-

_Three of us sat in the tree, in our spot, splitting up candies and talking about everything and nothing. Naruto was nursing a bruised cheek, Sasuke had split his knuckles and my foot hurt from hitting one man's knee cap. Sasuke was the first to speak. "Forget them." He aimed it at Naruto. The boy shrugged. _

Spin kick, palm strike, high kick, uppercut-

_The valley echoed with birds, a dark sphere hovered in the center. Light shone to reveal two boys in the center, fingers clasped in comradery. _

Elbow, chop, front kick-

"_Y-you're not blocking high enough," Hinata told me, her first real criticism of anything. I was stunned for a moment before I pulled back and we started the spar again. _

Left block, right punch.

I was finished.

The teachers wrote down my score and I took another breath, slow and careful. My pulse was still uneven, my temples throbbed and my stomach churned.

"Now," Iruka called my attention once more and I met his eyes, "Let's see the clone jutsu."

I nodded and brought my hands together.

_Kayuya watched my first attempt at making a clone, eyeing me critically with his byakugan activated. When I failed spectacularly I looked up at him, utterly confused. He regarded me with distain. "You're chakra is uneven. There's too much spirit and mind, not enough physical energy. You won't get much further than the basics."_

My hands wove seals, fingers trembling.

"_If you go down this road you'll die young," my neighbor, Minamoto Hana told me._

I paused. If I passed this test I _would_ die young. But I was already dead. So what did it matter?

_I chose this path as my own, for selfish reasons. Now I've reached an obstacle and I want to give up? Why am I shaking? Why are my eyes starting to go out of focus? Why am I afraid? I've already gone through the scariest thing of all. What more do I have to fear? _

I smiled shakily and lowered my hands, flicking them out and bringing them back up. My palms touched and digits moved, creating the needed gestures. My chakra, which had evened out as I trained my body, molded to my demands. I clapped together the final seal and smoke exploded on both sides of me.

I glanced from side to side, finding my clones looking just like I did. Choppy brown hair, burnt and frizzy at the edges. Dark green eyes stared out at the judges and when I looked over I found two of the three teachers smiling at me. Iruka pointed to the collection of headbands on the edge of the table.

I almost tripped on my way over, taking the metal plate in hand and bowing to the men before I made my escape, stepping out of the room in a doorway opposite of the one I had come through. Sasuke was standing outside, waiting for me, and though I couldn't see them I felt Kakashi, Yugao and Tenzo in one of the trees. With a shaky hand I brought the headband up for Sasuke to see, back striking the side of the school as I leaned on it.

There was the barest hint of a smile on the Uchiha's face as he walked over, stopping in front of me. I slid down to the ground, heartbeat still not calming, disbelief and excitement shooting through my veins as darkness touched the end of my vision.

Funny how I didn't even blink at the threat of combustion but tests nearly gave me a panic attack.

"You passed," Sasuke didn't sound surprised.

I nodded, smiling a bit and laying my head back. I closed my eyes, feeling the sun on my skin. "Wake me up when Naruto gets out," I requested.

Sasuke snorted. "You're not actually sleeping."

"No, but I might if he takes too long."

* * *

Naruto passed the test based solely on his practical skills.

He had the worst grade of the last five graduating classes.

* * *

The doctors eyes followed the movements of the girl as Asuka Suzuki, who they had watched grow from a tiny, death bound child to a still small, mentally unstable genius, pranced through the halls, a headband strapped to her forehead underneath her always-present goggles. Her smile was so wide it threatened to split her face in half.

They watched her turn into the room of her comatose mother, calling a greeting before the door shut behind her. A few shook their heads, other smiled in pity.

Inside the hospital room Shiori Suzuki lay in her bed, unable to tell her daughter how proud she was as she listened to the daily recount of events.

* * *

"I hear you passed your test."

I looked up from the memorial stone, surprised. Kakashi rarely spoke unless prompted, especially at Obito's supposed grave. I smiled brightly up at him, pushing my goggles down so he could see.

"I did it," I told him proudly, beaming up at the man. His eye crinkled in a smiled and he reached out, ruffling my hair.

"Not bad," he commented, "Did you get your team assignments yet?"

I snorted and swatted at his hand. "As if you don't know. You said you were taking on a team this year, you'll probably know who's doing what before I do!"

He shrugged simply. "Maybe, maybe."

I rolled my eyes and turned back to the stone, clasping my hands in front of me and bowing to it. I was going to celebrate my passing with Yugao, Tenzo, Gai and his team(Who I had gotten to know very well over the last year) tonight, and tomorrow I was going to see if I was right. I could only hope that I would get on the team that I needed. Funny, the most dangerous place I could think of was right beside my boys, and I would fight tooth and nail to stay there.

* * *

When I walked to the same school I had been going to for the past six years there was a buzz of excitement thrumming in my chest. I had changed my look a little bit for the occasion.

Gone were the frizzled edges of my hair, which was now chopped short, almost to my jaw. I'd traded bright T-shirts for a long sleeved shirt of green and exchanged torn up jeans for black ninja pants. The same blue sandals that everyone my age wore were also a part of my attire, and just as always my goggles were strapped to my forehead, though now they rested above the my headband. The thick gloves that Hinata had gifted me were long outgrown, and replaced by a near identical pair courtesy of Yugao.

Looking around I realized I was probably the only one who had changes style. Everyone else around me was dressed the same as always. It was funny actually, they sold ninja outfits in bulk packages of anywhere from five to fifty, so you could wear the same thing for days in a row and still change clothes every morning.

Tobio passed by me, calling farewell to his parents and I felt a sudden pang when I realized that neither of mine were around. It had happened the night before as well. I knew that Sasuke and Naruto felt something similar, but none of us mentioned it. I could at least talk to my mother, and had a small group of adults looking out for me.

I shook the thoughts out of my head, catching sight of a familiar form walking several yards ahead of me. A grin blossomed and I took off at a run, leaping into the air and nearly tackling the poor person from behind.

Shino didn't even stumble, used to my antics after a full year of them. There was a familiar hum as his hive moved under his skin in response to my actions, but they too knew me well, and understood that I was not a threat.

Shino's hands found the bend of my knees and helped support me as I clung to his back, light enough and small enough that I didn't hinder him any. In fact I was the shortest person in my class, smaller even than Hinata by at least an inch. I was no trouble at all to Shino.

"Good morning!" I chirped brightly, practically glowing with excitement and nerves. It was a funny mixture, not the terror that I had felt yesterday during the test.

"You seem happy today," the boy observed. I nodded my agreement.

"Indeed. For you see, I have graduated. That is reason enough for joy but To day is also the day that we get team assignments, and there's a good percentage that I'll end up on a team with at least one of my friends."

"That is a reason to be excited."

"Are you telling me that you're completely apathetic to it all?"

"No. Why? Because I have worked for many years for this, and those years will not be wasted."

I nodded my understanding and agreement, falling into companionable silence with Shino as we, or rather he, walked into the school. One of his insects crawled out of his collar, seeming to find me arm to be a more interesting place to be. I watched it, humming under my breath as it walked around, tickling me. I had grown used to the little things, and while I still burnt up ants and sprayed spiders with hair spray, I never have and never will hurt one of Shino's bugs. He cared about them too much.

I only got off of Shino when he was preparing to take his seat, dropping from his back and giving a quick wave as I walked up the stairs to take a seat next to Sasuke, who was having a his customary argument with Naruto. They were friends, and very close now. This did not stop them from fighting, being rivals too and all.

I watched, taking note of where Naruto was crouched on the table and how close the boys were to butting head. Tobio sat in front of them and I was struck with a sudden sense of Déjà vu.

_No way_.

Tobio leaned back, bumping into Naruto and sending him tripping down just as Sakura and Ino burst into the room, shoving and shouting at each other. They froze, as did the rest of the room. All of us had and were now staring wide eyed at the boys that sat next to me, their lips pressed together and horror painting their expressions.

I was the first one to break the silence, exploding into laughter that I barely covered with my hand.

The spell was broken and the boys broke apart, sputtering, spitting and gagging.

I continued to laugh as Sakura grabbed Naruto by the collar of his shirt, screaming in his ear. Sasuke shot me a glare that could have lit water on fire and my laughter died, replaced by a sly smile. I wiggled my eye brows suggestively and his glare increased.

"Shut up," he ordered sharply. My smile only grew.

Naruto limped over, nursing a bruise to the head and giving me a quizzical look. I flashed teeth up at him as he walked past to take the seat on my other side.

"Didn't know you swung that way," I teased, watching his face turn bright, glowing red.

"Shut up!" He shouted.

I stuck my tongue out. "Make me," I challenged. Then shrieked when something poked both of my sides. I spun around, eyes wide with horror. Sasuke sat behind me, his hands outstretched. There was an evil tilt to his face and I paled considerably.

"Don't you dare," I hissed, scooting away on the bench. This was a mistake as it put me right in Naruto's range. I squeaked again, jumping away when he poked me on the side, shouting 'stop it!'.

"Naruto, Asuka, is there something you'd like to share with the rest of us?" Iruka asked from the front of the room. We three looked down at him, surprised. I don't think any of us had seen him come in.

"Sorry sensei," Naruto and I chorused.  
Iruka shook his head, turning to address us. "Now that that's settled, it's time for team assignment."

My nerves came back with a vengeance and I started praying to every god I could think of.

* * *

"_Yeah, about the test..._

_The test will measure whether you are an informed, engaged, and productive citizen of the world, and it will take place in schools and bars and hospitals and dorm rooms and in places of worship. You will be tested on first dates, in job interviews, while watching football, and while scrolling through your Twitter feed. The test will judge your ability to think about things other than celebrity marriages, whether you'll be easily persuaded by empty political rhetoric, and whether you'll be able to place your life and your community in a broader context. The test will last your entire life, and it will be comprised of the millions of decisions that, when taken together, will make your life yours. And everything, everything, will be on it._

_...I know, right?"_

― _John Green_


	12. Team 7

**Here we go again! **

**Reviews; **

**IIat-2: Okay, sorry about that. **

**To hell with this: I'll be going more into her heart problem with these later chapters. It wasn't because of her heart that she almost fainted during the test, so there's that. **

**Where's the mayo: I hate the poke! People love it though. You know yelling because of it is actually a fear response? Your body thinks you're under attack and responds accordingly. **

**RandomR15: I love Shino, he's one of my very favorite characters. I wish there was more stuff with him in it on this site. Bleh, spiders are awful things. They've always freaked me out. **

**Chandagnac: Well… okay then. I don't actually care about the misquote or the chaos theory, that's not really what I'm writing about. I just put out something that everyone would recognize and understand. It's like when people say 'Luke I am your father' no one pitches a fit over that being wrong. I've never seen another character, OC or otherwise, with the name Asuka or Suzuki so I don't know where you're getting reason to complain over that from. **

**Furthermore, I didn't write this to impress your critically negative ass, I wrote it because I wanted to. I don't actually give a damn if there's cliché's in it, which you wouldn't even know about if you barely read the first chapter. If you have real problems with it, tell me something constructive, don't just bitch about how it doesn't meet you expectations. **

**Ka: Thank you! You didn't sound dim at all. I try to make it sound more like a kid, so it's good to know I'm doing it right. I hope you feel better!**

**Yinko: She acts that way because that's how I wrote her. I wanted it to be like this, I'm the writer, so it is. I actually have a problem with reincarnations where the characters are overly mature, so I wrote mine **_**the way I wanted to. **_

''**When a forty year old woman is best friends with six year olds it's pathetic." Joke or otherwise I have to ask, who the hell do you expect her to be friends with? Kosuke? In case you haven't noticed she's got the body of a six year old, people treat her like a six year old, she has the emotional capacity of a six year old, and **_**she is a six year old**_**, even if she has the memories of forty years. Fuck off. **

**Vaughn Tyler: Vaughn is actually the name of my old math teacher. Thank you!**

**Meep615: Thank you, I hope it meets your expectations! **

**Pic16: It really touches my heart that you would take the time to review when you normally don't. Thanks!**

**RandomCitizen: Whoa, talk about a lot of reviews! That absolutely made my day, seeing so many from one person. It means the world to me, thank you. I feel like they have a lot of the basic stuff that we have. Maybe ninja don't use leaf blowers but she lives in a civilian area to someone probably had some. Aside from the really big stuff (cars, planes, trains and such) the ninja world actually has a lot of electronics. They have life support systems, house wiring, microwaves, stoves, fans, and other such things. **

**Liffae: I really wanted to put in those three, they're some of my favorites that I don't see a whole lot about. I'm glad you liked it too. I know that there's some flaws, earlier I mentioned my reasoning behind not having a beta so… yeah. We're finally falling into the big stuff!**

**Guest from Jan. 20: I hope a week later counts as soon.**

* * *

Iruka cleared his throat, looking out over his students and then back at the list. One or two of the teams he could already see flourishing. The others… Sometimes he wondered just how much the Hokage knew about these kids.

"Team Seven;" he began, "Sasuke Uchiha, Naruto Uzumaki, and Asuka Suzuki."

He watched the girl almost fall out of her seat, shock covering her face. Then triumph took over and she grabbed both of the boys, sitting on either side of her, into partial head locks as she cheered.

Iruka prayed that their teacher would be able to reign them in.

A glance at who that was had his normally tan skin several shades lighter and he moved on to the next team quickly. Maybe it was time he took a few missions out of the village…

* * *

The rest of the teams had left already, their teachers come to collect them for their first meeting. I sat between Naruto and Sasuke, the former bouncing impatiently and latter brooding to himself, as per usual. The chances of this actually happening were low, almost nonexistent. I could hardly believe that I was actually a part of Team Seven. There was a good chance that I would meet my next death with them.

Somehow I didn't seem to mind very much.

A poke to the side startled me out of my musings with another cry and I very nearly stabbed Sasuke with a pencil for his troubles.

"Is he coming any time soon?" the boy asked, looking down at where the pencil now stuck out of the bench, eraser pointing to the sky.

I tilted my head, pushing my chakra sense out and pursing my lips. I didn't sense anyone, especially Kakashi, heading in our direction.

"No, not yet," I reported, listening to Naruto groan dramatically on my other side. I looked over at him, and snickered, reaching over to drape an arm over his shoulder. "Oh hush, they'll be here eventually."

"But Asuka," he whined, drawing my name out, "I'm _bored_."

I patted his head, smiling with only a little bit of sympathy. I had spent years trailing after Kakashi, following him to various meetings that he was always at least three hours late for, the lazy bastard. Most of that time was spent either with Obito and Rin or reading his book. So you see, I had come prepared with ideas to ponder and several novellas that Kakashi had recommended me. For a porn reading pervert he really did have good taste in literature. I handed one of these volumes over to Naruto.

"Here. You'll like this one. You're the main character."

Naruto looked down at the book, startled, then back up at me. "The Legend of the Gutsy Ninja?" he repeated, sounding dubious.

I nodded, dropping it into his lap.

"Read, child."

"You're still a child."

"That still doesn't make the rest of you less annoying."

I could feel Sasuke's eyes rolling.

Though his face was scrunched up in annoyance Naruto did as I asked. He usually did, which was probably for the best. Sasuke refused the novel I offered him, a recount from the days of the beginning of our village written by someone who had worked directly under the First Hokage and Madara Uchiha. Instead he chose to go right back to his normal brooding ways. It wasn't as bad as it could have been, Naruto and I drove away the worst of the dark clouds that tried to cling to the boy, dragging him into brighter topics and keeping him close when the shadows got too strong of a hold.

Above our heads the clock ticked.

* * *

Whatever Kakashi had been expecting when he walked into the room it hadn't been what he found.

He had heard things about the two students he had that he hadn't known for several years. Who didn't know of Naruto Uzumaki, who couldn't sit still to save his life and pulled pranks that were literally impossible? What ninja didn't know of the cold, disconnected last Uchiha, Sasuke, who avoided physical contact like the plague?

_Only Asuka. _He thought, looking in through the cracked door. What he found was Sasuke acting as a support for Asuka, who had a book in her hand, propped on the head of Naruto. The blond had laid down on the bench, resting his head on the girl's thigh while he read a familiar book. Green eyes were already locked onto him. She didn't seem surprised.

"Well," he drawled, caused the eyes not already on him to raise, "Looks like you guys are all that's left."

Asuka brought a hand up in greeting. "'Sup Static Man?"

"The roof," he replied easily, "Which is where you'll meet me."

There was an indignant shout from his teacher's child as Kakashi vanished in a flash of smoke.

* * *

After explaining to them that yes, I knew Kakashi quite well and yes, he was always that late, the three of us trooped up the rarely used staircase that lead to the small veranda that rested on top of the building of the school, that doubled as the Hokage office and ninja administration building.

Kakashi was already waiting for us, familiar book in hand as he sat on one of the cushioned seat. I skipped over cheerfully, taking a seat next to Kakashi and crossing my legs, looking up at him attentively. Naruto sat next to me, and Sasuke next to him.

"Okay…" Kakashi clapped his hands together, "Why don't we start things off by introducing ourselves? Name, likes, dislikes, any hobbies you have, a dream for the future. That sort of thing."

"You start," I ordered immediately. Kakashi looked down at him, seeming not at all surprised.

"You already know me," he pointed out,

I nodded. "Yes, but they don't," I jerked my thumb at my boys.

Kakashi hummed his inclination. "I am Kakashi Hatake. I like sme things, and dislike others. As for hobbies… I have a few. I have no intention of telling you my dreams."

"You didn't tell us anything," Naruto complained.

I patted his head before going myself. "I'm Asuka Suzuki. You all know me and what I like, mechanics, reading, experimenting, and so on, and what I dislike is… not a lot actually. I don't like snakes, or being weak, or when a plan doesn't work out right. As for hobbies I like inventing and learning how things work. My dream for the future is something that you will laugh at, so it shall remain unsaid."

"We wouldn't laugh," Naruto tried to assure me. I shrugged.

"Eh, just go on darling."

"Right," he sat up a little bit straighter, "I'm Naruto Uzumaki, I like my friends and Ramen, especially Ichiraku's. I dislike the three minutes it takes instant ramen to cook, and people who don't respect me. My hobbies are pulling pranks and sparring with Sasuke and Asuka, and my dream is to be the next Hokage, and have all of the villagers respect and acknowledge me."

The three of us turned to our last member. Sasuke looked at us and sighed as if we were asking him to carry some great burden.

"I'm Sasuke Uchiha. I don't like a lot, except these two losers," we ignored Naruto's indignant 'hey!', "I dislike a lot of things. My hobbies are sparring and learning new techniques," he didn't mention he also cooked wonderfully, "my dream is not really a dream. It's a goal. I will kill a certain man, and restore my clan."

The dark certainty with which he said that made me want to shiver. I wanted so badly to tell him the truth, that it wasn't Itachi's fault, that his brother loved him more than anything in the world. But I couldn't. So I stayed quiet, stewing in my own guilt as Kakashi gave instruction to meet at the training grounds the next day. For our survival test, horrifying my boys with his explanation that only a few teams passed each year.

* * *

Kakashi broke apart from us outside of the school, leaving just us behind. As we were leaving I grabbed the boys hands, changing our direction to Out Place. The two exchanged glanced behind my shoulders while I dragged them all the way to the tree, leading the way up in the same gecko style I had been using for years. Neither of them seemed to realize I was using chakra. They just thought I was good at climbing.

I crawled inside, pressing my back to the wall and looking at Sasuke and Naruto when they came in.

"Asuka?" Sasuke questioned. The unvoiced 'what's wrong' hung in the air.

I took a breath. "There's something I never told you guys before," I began carefully, "I," can see the future, know your destinies, shouldn't be here, am actually dead, "have a hole in my heart."

Naruto's face twisted in confusion. "What?" he asked.

"In my heart there is a hole, a gap where tissue is missing. It makes it hard for me to work out and other stuff," I explained carefully. I never told them before. I didn't want them to treat me like I was weak or fragile.

They stared at me as reality set in and they realized that I wasn't joking or trying to pull one over on them.

"Asuka," Sasuke voice was quiet, even for him, "How long?"

"How long what?" I asked, half a smile tilting my lips, "Have I been defective or do I have to live?"

"Both," the Uchiha requested.

"Sasuke!" Naruto shouted, "She's not going to die! Don't talk like-"

"Everyone dies," Sasuke snapped, cutting him off. Naruto's teeth clicked when his jaw shut.

I shook my head, sighing quietly.

"Boys," I called, drawing black and blue eyes to me again, "Listen okay? I've knows since I was a little kid, I don't even know how old I was, five? Four? Somewhere in there I guess," I ignored their wide eyes, "As for when I'm going to die… I have no idea. They gave me until eleven. I'm twelve now. By all rights I should be dead already."

"Why didn't you tell us before?" Naruto's voice cracked, betrayal marking his face. "All those times you fainted, or when we dragged you around and you were tired-"

"Were the best times ever," I interrupted, "I was going to die, I wasn't going to go miserably. That's why I run, because I love it, that's why I risk blowing my arm off, because I love experimenting, that's why I played with you guys until I couldn't feel my legs. Because _I love you_."

There was dead silence.

"Are you going to die now?"

Naruto's tone was so heart breakingly sad I wanted to drag him into a hug. Being me I did just that, grabbing Sasuke for good measure.

"I'm not dying yet. There's still too much for me to do."

I felt their arms wrap around me and smiled, surrounded by warmth and friendship.

I had made the right choice.

* * *

_I had made the wrong choice._

_Don't set your alarm, _my brain said_, I'll wake you up, _it said_. _

_Liar! _I say.

_Liar that made me late for my first day of training under… Kakashi._

_Oh yeah._

* * *

I left the house an hour after I was supposed to, dressed up as a ninja with my holster strapped to my thigh and a pouch balancing on my rear end from where it was strapped on. I briefly considered going to the training ground before remembering again that it was Kakashi I was going to see, and so needed not worry about getting there on time.

Instead of heading for the training ground I turned my feet for the cemetery, finding Kakashi standing in front of the grave, as he was prone to doing. I could see his jaw moving under his mask and shook my head, turning away and heading for where I should have been. I never interrupted when he was talking to them. It was important to him so I would let him mourn in his own ways.

When Kakashi finally showed up two hours after I had I was sure Naruto was going to explode. When he gave his typical lame excuse the blond really did. Kakashi let the angry shouting roll off of him, as he always did.

I cleared my throat when it became obvious that Naruto wasn't going to start any time soon.

Eyes turned to me and I directed two pairs back to Kakashi. "You said we had a survival exercise?"

His smile, unseen, was sadistic.

From his pocket he produced two bells, shining on a string. He also produced a gray clock, which he set up on a log sitting in the middle of the grounds for target practice.

"This test is simple. If you get these bells from me before lunch, you'll pass the test and stay on as my genin. If you can't get a bell, you fail."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "There's only two bells," he observed.

"Yes," Kakashi agreed."

I pressed my lips together. "Two bells, two people can get a bell."

"Yes."

Naruto's face twisted with disbelief. "Are you saying only two of us will pass?" he near shouted.

Kakashi smiled. "I might be."

Sasuke stepped back from him, hands stuffed in his pockets. "No."

Kakashi arched a brow, something I could only notice from all the time I'd spent around the man. Naruto and I looked at Sasuke, then each other, before we too stepped away.

"I refuse," I told him flatly.

Kakashi blinked. "Excuse me?"

"Either we all get to pass or none of us do!" Naruto shouted, "They're my friends, there's no way I'll go on without them! All or nothing, that's the way it is!"

"He's right," I crossed my arms, "I'm not going to get a bell and leave either of them behind, and they're too damn stubborn to do it either."

"I don't need your test. I'll get another teacher," Sasuke informed him, glaring.

Kakashi looked between us all, seeming, for once utterly bewildered.

At last he let out a world weary sigh, pushing a hand through his shock of silver hair.

"Alright, since you're so determined to stay together, I'll make a deal with you. If you can get one bell, it will count as the team bell, and you'll all pass."

We looked at each other, Sasuke and I giving small nods to Naruto.

"Alright, you got a deal!" he proclaimed, "We'll win, just you watch! No one can beat us!"

Kakashi's eye crinkled. "We'll see, won't we?"

I grabbed Naruto and Sasuke's hands, taking a step back. "May we begin, Static Man-Sensei?" I questioned, tilting my head.

Kakashi hummed, glanced at the clock, and nodded. "Start time is now."

"Coolio. Darling, Lovely, with me," I ordered, pulled the boys, who objected slightly, out of Kakashi's hearing range. He ignored us, strapping the bells on his hips and pulling his book out.

Once it was safe I brought the boys to hunker down with me.

"Okay, we're going to loose."

"Wait, what?!"

I elbowed Naruto, causing him to yelp enough that he shut his mouth.

"Hush. Kakashi is one of the best in the village. If he wanted to he could probably be the Hokage in a few years. So we, as itty bitty genin, don't have a prayer."

Sasuke knew me better than to think I would give up like that. "Unless?" he prompted.

I smiled. "Unless we pull the wool over his eyes."

Naruto 'huh?'d.

"We trick him," Sasuke translated. "How?"

I grinned widely, looking at Kakashi. He shivered in the face of my mania, turning away. My almost-killing-him those few times must have really done something.

"Here's the plan. Naruto, we need a bunch of shadow clones. Sasuke, how fast can you get a fire ball out?"

Their smiles were as devious as mine.

* * *

I stretched out, putting my arms over my head and bending back before I straightened up and turned to Kakashi, checking for genjutsu or a clone. There wasn't one there, it was definitely his before-the-storm chakra. I walked forwards, in no hurry until I was a few yards away. Catching Sasuke's eye I took the signal and dart forwards, lashing out with a powerful kick. Kakashi blocked it with one arm and leaned his head back when I threw a punch at his face.

I dropped to the ground, rolling off his shoulder and slung a sweeping kick for his ankles, he jumped like I was a rope, avoiding it entirely. While he was in the air Sasuke shot in, weaving hand seals together and bringing his hand to his mouth. He blew out a stream of fire, causing Kakashi's eyes to widen with surprise. He was forced to jump back to avoid being hit.

I went after him, Sasuke now at my side as we attacked him relentlessly, pushing him back into the woods. Our styles were different, neither one that that was taught at the Academy. Mine relied on speed and striking weak points before they could be guarded, an altered version of Gai's that emphasized speed and nearly forgo strength. Sasuke's style was that of his family, throwing in harsh blows and doing as much damage as he could, hitting whatever he could whenever the chance arose. That isn't to say there wasn't precision, but he didn't wait for opening so much as make them.

We hit the trees and jumped back and away from Kakashi. I gave a shout of 'now!'.

Kakashi's visible eye grew wide when there was a 'twang' of a broken wire and a log came flying from above, aimed at him. That was the start of the traps that Naruto has set up, some of them chakra triggered, most of them non. Logs, explosive notes and a rain of kunai and shuriken fell upon the teacher.

Kakashi used a replacement to get out of the way when dodging became illogical, reappearing behind us. My hands had already formed the signs.

There was a pull of chakra, a surge of energy and the world of trees vanished from around me. I had locked my target and the next second I was driving an elbow into Kakashi's side. His kicked lifted me off the ground and sent me arching through the air. I recovered, flipping to my hands and then my feet.

My head snapped to the side to see Naruto come out of the woods with Sasuke.

"Did you get it?" I called.

Sasuke smirked, bringing a hand up. Silver glinted from his fingers. Kakashi's hand shot to his side and he looked from his hip, where one bell still hung, to me. I grinned cheerfully at him.

"Replacement," I shrugged, "Work smarter, not harder."

We would have just used the replacement right away if it weren't for the fact that people with good enough chakra control could cancel it out. So he had to be distracted before it would work.

Kakashi's eye crinkled into a smile. "Congratulations. You pass."

* * *

"_Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much"― Helen Keller _


	13. We Should Ban Fate

**Wow, so many reviews! **

**Sublivion Mist: I'm glad that you're enjoying it! Sorry again for the errors, I think I already explained some of why they're there? Yeah, well anyways I'm glad you took the time to review!**

**Elim Garak: I've always found it strange how when someone is reborn they seem to forget their entire life and never try to push technology or anything further. As for your questions, I don't know exactly where but I do know that stuff exists. There are microwaves and stoves and TVs, if you look at any episodes that aren't 'punch, punch, tragic back story, shining glory epic battle power UP!' you can see very basic appliances and such in the houses. There was actually one panel in the manga where I guy walked past Kakashi with an Ipod! So actually they do have electricity, and Jaraiya had a laptop. As for the seals, I'm actually addressing that in this chapter. **

**Vaughn Tyler: Thank you, I try. **

**ShugoYuuki123: Hope it doesn't disappoint!**

**Sabie0521: Ah, I'm sorry if I wasn't very clear! What basically happened was that Asuka used the Replacement Jutsu (or Kawarami or whatever it is) to switch herself and one of the bells, sending the bell back to Sasuke and her to Kakashi. She couldn't do it right off because with enough chakra control someone can tell when you're about to switch with something and if they're touching that something they can cancel the jutsu(So says me).**

**As for telling Sasuke, I'm not sure she's going to tell anyone yet. I want to have someone find out for the trouble and ease it might bring but I also don't because realistically any village for pump for as much information as she had regardless of whether she was a ninja or telling them willingly or not. **

**Ka: I've never heard of that story. It's not happy, in fact it's very ironic. Pretty interesting though, and a little sad. **

**MoonShadow396: Thank you very much!**

**On to the show. This one's a little short, sorry. I'm trying to update regularly but I've got a huge research paper I'm working on now too.**

**Lurking Phoenix: You're getting dangerously close to reading my mind there! Asuka is going to end up well known but she's so plain looking no one will know it's 'That Crazy Suzuki Kid' until it's too late to run.**

* * *

D-ranks suck ass.

They are boring, nothing but chores that civilians are too lazy or old to do themselves, pawned off onto poor genin who need the money and don't get a say in what they're going to do.

I had a plan to get out of these though.

Oh yes, I had a plan.

* * *

"My petunias! You awful children, you've ruined my garden!"

Naruto cried out as a broom smacked his face. "Hey!"

"We got all the weeds out!" I shouted, jumping over a hurdled flower pot, "Mission accomplished!"

* * *

"My dog! What have you done?!"

Sasuke looked entirely too innocent. "We took him for a walk."

"Why is he covered in maple syrup?" our client shrieked.

Naruto shrugged. "We took him for a walk in the syrup factory

We left dodging another broom.

* * *

"Dear god, my baby!"

Kakashi looked up at the ceiling lazily. He's been gone for the last hour, during which we had duck taped the little five year old brat to the ceiling.

Our teacher just shook his head.

* * *

"Asuka," Kakashi began carefully, "Why is Tora crying?"

I looked down at the weeping cat before shrugging. "Sasuke said the genjutsu was harmless."

* * *

"Why?"

"We were supposed to clean the river, the fish were in the way."

"Why put them in the Hyuuga compound?"

Naruto tilted his head innocently.

"Because they already had a fish pond. We just gave them a few hundred more."

"The rivers are clean Iruka Sensei. We still completed our mission."

He looked like he wanted to hang all three of us over a well.

* * *

"You were supposed to repaint the house."

"We did."

"Bright orange?"

"They never said which color."

* * *

"You were supposed to paint the house."

"We did, we even used the color they gave us for it."

"It was supposed to be the outside of the house."

"We still did what they told us to."

* * *

"By pruning roses they didn't mean cover them in prunes."

"How were we supposed to know that?"

* * *

"Asuka."

"Yes?"

"You're doing this on purpose aren't you?"

My smile was sickeningly sweet.

"I have no idea what you're talking about, Static Man Sensei."

He sighed.

* * *

"Since you've been banned from all D-rank missions in the village," an unhealthy twitch had begun to form above Iruka's eye, "There's no choice but to give you a C-rank."

Naruto cheered, Sasuke smirked and Kakashi was smiling behind his mask. I kept my hands behind me, all wide eyed innocence.

Iruka's glower warned me he could see right through it.

As far as I was concerned the sooner we got our first C-rank the less likely it was going to be that disastrous Wave Mission. Let someone else take it.

* * *

Bullshit. The world is bullshit.

Tazuna was staring down at us, a drunken flush covering his cheeks.

"These brats are supposed to be ninja? Some little girl and a runt?"

"Hey!" Naruto shouted, "Don't call Sasuke a runt!"

I stepped back, closer to Kakashi and shook my head. This was not how it was supposed to happen.

As we followed Tazuna out of the building to get our supplies dread wrapped around my heart and my feet turned me to the hospital.

I needed to say goodbye to my mom and pack up.

I wasn't ready.

I had to wonder, was this world set on a path that no amount of knowledge could deviate it from?

If so, why was I on Team 7 instead of Sakura?

Nothing made sense.

My head was starting to hurt.

* * *

_ I believe in luck and fate and I believe in karma, that the energy you put out in the world comes back to meet you. -Chris Pine_

* * *

**This chapter was edited at the request of YSPMistake.**


	14. Demon Brothers and the First Shot

**Chapter 14!**

**Reviews;**

**ShugoYuuki123: I'm a little worried about how the Wave Mission is going to go, mostly because I really, really like Haku and Zabuza and want them to live but also because I don't want Asuka to end up as a Mary-Sue who saves everyone. Even though I really, really want to do that too. So as you can see, I am at an impasse. **

**moon so bright: Thank you, I'm glad you think it's unique, that is what I was going for! **

**Shinkansen: I hope that you keep smiling! **

**Wooionion: The rocket propelled wheel chair was definitely one of the more successful inventions.**

**helrio uzugaku: I'm glad that you think that it's funny! I'm normally not that good at humor, so this is kind of a shaky attempt. **

**Littlebirdd: I love Amelia Bedelia! Those books were my entire childhood! **

**MoonShadow296: I always wondered why they didn't just find a way around doing them, it seemed like a relatively obvious solution to me. Destiny is something that I personally think is a little weird, the thought that no matter what you do your life is set on a straight path is a little scary personally. You're right though, Naruto meeting those two was a very important thing, and I feel like it's not something that can and/or should be, no matter how much I want to. **

**Vaughn Tyler: Thank you again!**

**NinjaDemonAngel: Why, thank you very much! I was trying for something I'd never seen before and Asuka came up. So there she is.**

**Sabie0521: She causes so much havoc for her village. **

**SynesThroretical: As much as I like having things light hearted and fun I also have to drag them back down to something more realistic and downcast. It's important to me, and her heart, while it hasn't been too much of a problem yet, is something that is still and always will be there. In regards to the wave missions it does seem almost universal. In everything I've ever read it has almost always been present.**

* * *

"Are you sure sending them on a C-rank so soon was a good idea?" Iruka asked, looking after his former students despairingly. They were so young, so unprepared for the outside world. At least Asuka had looked worried, the other two had seemed ecstatic.

"It would have happened eventually," the Hokage assured him, "Best they get their feet wet with something simple. I've had a few low-risk missions set aside for all of the genin teams. Team 7 was just the first to get sent on one. Of course, now that's all they'll be able to be sent on."

Iruka couldn't tell if the man was amused or annoyed.

He just hoped they would be okay.

* * *

The sun was out, the birds were whistling and there was a pleasant, faint breeze floating around. It was the perfect day for a long walk, Kakashi decided, looking out at the path and back over at his students. They had brought a rain of irritation down on the village with their D-ranked shenanigans and had subsequently been permanently banned from such tasks. Kakashi was positive it was all his green eyed students fault, taking every instruction they were given at word point and literal meaning. Now all that was left for them was C-ranks.

He wasn't as upset as he should have been. The tasks were mind-numbing and dull for both those doing them and those supervising.

The jonin adjusted the strap of his holster one last time before facing his cute little students. Sasuke was holding Naruto back from trying to kill the client again and Asuka looked to be plotting something if the narrowed glare she had aimed at the man was any indication. Which it was, he knew.

_Oh_ _boy_. This was going to be a long mission.

* * *

Storage scrolls are the most amazing things ever invented. I couldn't make them, I am an engineer, not a seal master, and I honestly have no interest in them. They're useful yes, but I wasn't the kind of person that could make something that complex.

Rockets, satellites, and super computers sure, no problem, just give me the materials. Seals? Hah. You're funny.

Seals are not math, they are not science, they are not based off of elements or currents or nature. It based off the human mind, off of imagination and fiction. It just doesn't compute with my brain. So, no sealing for me.

Thankfully when you fix enough junk and sell enough fixed and improved necessities people will sometimes sell you things that aren't money. Like exploding tags, storage scrolls and security seals.

My scrolls contained what I thought I needed. Food, water, things like that. And, most importantly, my fire arms. I didn't want to walk out of the village with them (there were three working models then) strapped to me or taking up a hand. It would bring up too many questions, ones I didn't feel like answering at that particular moment.

A demonstration would be easier, one that I could give later on, if all went as it had before.

I stuck close to Kakashi as we walked, aware that Naruto and Sasuke kept looking at me. They'd been doing it since I'd told them about my little problem. They kept clinging to me or worrying over me and if they didn't stop the first person to know what a bullet felt like would be their legs.

Kakashi at least hadn't treated me any different after he learned of my misfortune. He just didn't try to pawn me off on Gai as much. He did encourage me to train my insistence on hand to hand ability with genjutsu specialty, but I was a stubborn brat and refused. I never admitted that I had forgotten that it even existed until he mentioned it.

It would have saved me so much trouble.

If only I wasn't so obdurate when it came to learning to fight with my fists.

Ah well, now that I had a good long rang weapon that no one could really counter (ninja were fast but not faster than the speed of sound (Except maybe the Raikage, and I had no intention of shooting him)) I figured I was set and evenly balanced out. For the time being at least.

I was still working on improving. For the time being I was still working with tech from the 1800s while I tried to get the right ratios for slow burning powder instead of black. So far it just exploded. In my face. A lot.

Consequently I now held the familiar scent of gun-powder near constantly.

Kakashi I knew noticed, his mask would occasionally twitch with a nose wrinkle when I got close enough. It wasn't a bad smell but it was strong, and Kakashi's sense of smell was frighteningly powerful. Kiba had told me I reeked of explosives last time I'd seen him.

Nothing new, but stronger now.

A blip on my chakra radar alerted me to the presence of two new ninja, both of a rank higher than me and Sasuke and much lower than Kakashi. Naruto too, but he had so much chakra it was sometimes hard to tell.

There were two of them, emanating from a good ways out of sight. A took a few steps closer to Kakashi, reaching into my bag for one of the smaller storage scrolls I had, this one only about as long as a pencil and about as thick as a silver dollar.

Kakashi made a hum of question and I looked up at him, shrugging a little bit.

"There's someone ahead of us," I explained, "Two people. Dunno who. They feel," I grimaced, "moist."

God I hate that word. Moist. It made me think of Dr. Horrible's weird best friend.

"Oh?"

I nodded, unrolling the scroll to reveal a circle of lines that I couldn't even begin to understand. I popped out a gun based on the Colt 1858, with a slightly shorted muzzle. As well as that I had a powder horn and a small leather bag of shots, both of which I dropped over each shoulder so they crossed over my chest in an 'X'.

"What's that?" Naruto asked, looking at me curiously while I opened the gun and started loading, keeping it pointed to the ground.

"An invention."

The blond's eyes shone. "An exploding one?"

I looked up, meeting his gaze squarely. "A killing one."

* * *

They were walking right into a trap. Not one of wires or ropes, no. A trap of sharp chains and perfect tangent. Gozu waited patiently in the water, his brother close, ever connected by the chain that they stained with blood. The chain that would soon be dripping red from the brats walking towards them. The only possible threat was the man, a chunin or a jonin. Judging by the look of the runts he would be their jonin teacher.

So, three brats and someone only a little higher in rank than they were. That would be no problem.

At least that's what Gozu thought before the trap was sprung. It only took a few seconds for their teamwork, the thing that he and his younger twin excelled at, to tear the jonin into small, bloody pieces. The girl closest to them jumped back, putting herself between them and the client, like a good little girl, and brought her hands up to point some kind of cylinder at them.

The two ignored her, Gozu mumbling a near triumphant 'one down' to his brother as they went after the blond brat next, who had frozen into place, wide eyes locked onto the pair as they bore down on him, killing intent palpable.

He would have been dead if some other brat hadn't interfered, landing on their arms and using shuriken to pin the chain that swung between the two to a tree. The pair, as one, cussed and disengaged the mechanism that held the chain to their claw covered arm, rushing the child again. Gozu did, his brother engaged that annoying kid that had taken their chains away.

Green eyes stared up at him, wide eyed, the cylinder was pointed at his chest. He jumped up just as a crack split the air, stinging his ears.

That was nothing compared to the fire that shredded through his right hip.

His shout (not scream, he was manly man) was cut off by an arm clotheslining him, sending him to the ground as he choked and gagged and cried, hand flying to his hip. It slapped against familiar, sticky fluid. He didn't know why it hurt so much or even what had happened. But there was a tiny hole in his hip and it hurt more than if he'd just been outright stabbed.

When he rolled over to look at the girl responsible her eyes were wide and her hands were shaking.

He scoffed at himself, looking away again. Brought down by a brat that had never been in a real fight before. That was pathetic.

Off to the side his short tempered little brother was screaming curses and threats at the girl.

* * *

My father's voice echoed in my head.

_Never point a gun at someone unless you plan to kill them with it. _

I had made the gun. I had pointed it. I had pulled the trigger.

That didn't make me any less sick watching the blood flower around the ground around the ninja. I was glad and ashamed of my gladness that he had not died, that the bullet had only buried itself in in his hip, which would not kill him if the bleeding was stopped. Kakashi was making sure that it did while I lowered the muzzle to point at the dirt, taking in a deep breath.

I hadn't realized until that exact moment the irony of what I had done.

I had been shot to death.

And then I brought that method of murder into a world of people who wouldn't flinch away from using it.

I decided then that no one, no matter who they were or how much I liked them, would learn how to craft my weapons.

"Were you trying to kill him?" the Static Man asked once he had both of the brothers tied up and not dying. He didn't sound angry, or accusatory. Merely curious.

I shook my head. "No."

It was then that Naruto's hand was revealed to be bleeding, not badly but certainly loosing fluid.

"There's poison in those claws," Kakashi informed him, "if we don't get it out, you can die."

I'm sure you know the rest.

Stubborn as a damn mule the blond refused to turn back or abandoned the lying old drunk who had put our lives, the lives of children, at risk because he couldn't be bothered to ask for help outright and offer non-monetary compensation for services. It wasn't like it was illegal. Not used much but still a possibility.

I shook my head, smiling fondly and snapping the safety back in place.

"Child," I sighed at Naruto, "You're going to get yourself killed one of these days and Sasuke will go into avenging overdrive and that's what I'll be left with," I predicted.

The blond scoffed, puffing his chest out. "No way! I can't die until I become Hokage!"

Kakashi was shaking his head at us, clearly finding our antics ridiculous.

It was not long before we were on the road again, and this time I had a leather holster (custom made in exchange for a fading light system) strapped to my thigh, the weight of the pistol inside. I will admit, a geeky part of me felt like a cowboy and it was hard not to try and cur off in the next town, a port, to try and find a duster to go with the imagining.

We loaded into a boat at the edge of the docks, one owned by a friend of Tazuna's, and started the long trip to the next land, travelling through the night. It was lucky that I was a master of sleep deprivation or it might have been a little bit difficult going all through the nocturnal hours with only a few minutes of sleep apiece. Kakashi didn't get any at all, I'm sure.

As the morning tried to dawn the fog was thick and heavy, filling the air with ghostly wisps and damp humidity. Out of the mist rose the bridge like a great beast, half decayed. Most of the construct was still skeletal, canes standing watchful and still, walls looking like they would form something but that the flesh of the ribs had been strips.

When I told this to my team they gave me very weird looks and I was promptly told to go to sleep.

I listened, and by the time I woke again it was time for yet more walking. We were almost there at least, and the fog had crept off.

That wouldn't last long, unfortunately.

* * *

"_I will not die without fighting for a life I am not yet done living." ― Bethany Wiggins, Stung_


	15. Weakest Link

**Short Chapter. **

**I own nothing. **

**Reviews;**

**Shanagi95: Hello! The answer to your question is absolutely not! What you're describing is completely impossible. How the heart works is that it's a mass of muscles. When it pumps the muscle contract, sending oxygenated blood into the body and de-oxygenated blood back to the lungs. Something made of wood would never have the flexibility required to do that, period. Also, it isn't a disease. It's a condition, yes, but a disease implies that is progressing or is something that was passed to her from someone or something else, which it is not. **

**IIat – 2: I'm not sure why he would do that? **

**Hachi Hashi: I'm excited for this too! I haven't seen any others where someone, even an ex-soldier, brings in guns. Which I can kind of understand, Kishimoto himself said he would never put guns into the Naruto world and a lot of authors seem to follow his designs. Thank you for talking to me!**

**Vaughn Tyler: Thank you!**

**helrio uzugaku: Thank you, I had fun putting those in! **

**Sabie0521: I think that showing a bunch of trained killers a new way to do their job without getting close would be a mistake, personally, as we can all see how it turned out here. **

**Toroised: Okay, you've given me a lot to respond to so I guess I'll start with a thank you for all of the words! And that I'm glad you that the missions were fun. **

**They weren't really failed missions though, the kids did exactly what they were told to do. They just went about it in ways that fucked people over and got banned from taking any missions like that again. No more baby-sitting, house painting, or cat catching, because while they did do what the mission entailed they took things literally to the point that a failure would have been better. **

**The C-rank wasn't supposed to be a reward, it was meant to be a learning experience that would hopefully get the kids to understand why they start with D-ranks and make them more responsible. They've never failed a mission, they were all technically complete, so no, they aren't 'entitle' to get the mission that they did but it was the only one that they could still get, which, as ninja, they needed to to get their paycheck. **

**As for the Hokage and Kakashi, have you ever noticed that they never tell anyone anything outright? It's always this 'underneath the underneath' crap that, for some reason, the fools think that idiot children will figure out on their own. **

**Now for the guns. Have you ever heard a gun go off? Even on TV? I'm assuming that you have. That BANG that you hear isn't the powder exploding. **

_**That is the sound barrier shattering.**_

**Even ninja don't go that fast. If they did there would be sonic booms going off all over the place in the show, which, you may note, there are not. So a bullet, going roughly 768 miles per house, will indeed be faster than a ninja, who, without creating the sonic boom I mentioned, cannot be going any more that 750 some odd miles per hours (The exception being, as I mentioned before, the Raikage).**

**This isn't X-men Origins so I doubt that even if a ninja could move that fast they would be able to deflect the bullet. With the amount of energy that that thing has going behind it it would more than likely knock the kunai right out of the poor fuckers hand. Of course Sir Hochheim's Law of Violent Impact, the 7th Rule states that,** **"No one can guarantee what a punch, a kick, a stab or a gunshot will do to you." So some might be able to block it, if they find themselves moving supersonic and having the muscles in the arm to withstand force that can piece through plate armor, or if they have some huge thing that can be a shield (like Zabuza or Kisame's swords, for example), but for the most part, who is going to know that that weird hunk of metal is going to send out a projectile the size of your nail at almost 800 mph? It really just looks like some kind of fucked up boomerang, so more than likely it is assumed that that thing would be what is being thrown. **

**You did bring up the reloads and such, is which good because that is also a major thing. Most guns, like the one she's carrying in the story, only hold between six and twelve shots at a time. Hers right now is a pistol, meaning it's a manual shot. She has to cock back the trigger each time, which takes a few seconds, enough time for some speedy ninja to try and take her head off once they figure out 'hey, that thing is pointing death at me!'. **

**The maximum range would be roughly 1900 yards, with the maximum range of actually being an effective shot dropping away at about fifty yards. **

**Ambushes are totally possible, just harder. She's not a super sensor, like Karin or Minato or Hashirama. Just a sensor. Long rang or earth based attacks will pretty much fuck her over if she doesn't shoot the caster before they're done. Genjutsu defense is pretty much she'll notice it soon enough but she's not immune to it or anything like that. It affects her about the same as it does anyone else. **

**Does that answer your questions?**

* * *

Naruto wouldn't stop talking. Normal, for him, but right then I had other things on my mind. Unfortunately, what he was talking about was part of what I was thinking of.

Most of my mind was on pushing my senses out as far as I could 'which, in case you were wondering, is about half a mile if I really, really stretch it (And feel like dealing with the kind of headaches bright lights cause concussion victims). If I'm not trying it's just a few yards around, maybe six. Way shorter than the human line of sights, which stops at about 2.6 miles thanks to the curvature of the earth.

So, with a head ache pounding I listened to my little blond friend keep asking questions. I answered a few of them ("What's is called?" I don't know. "How did you think of it?" I screamed up a water pipe and had an idea. "How did you make it?" with a blood, sweat and tears. "Can try it?" over my dead body. "How does it work?" magic.)

Kakashi was listening the entire time, I was sure, as was Sasuke. I didn't need to be asked questions from them, Naruto was asking all of them.

I was in the middle of explain for the third time that no, I would not let Naruto hold it because he would probably shoot his damn eye out when there was a blip on the radar.

My steps faltered and my hand fell over my weapon. That was too big to be a civilian, and way too small to be Zabuza. So that meant it was likely Haku, stalking us.

I would like to make sure that it is understood that chakra sensing is not an all powerful art. It's not like the Hyuuga's eyes, that see through walls, or the Sharingan that could see the chakra itself in all living things.

It is like any other sense.

It can be fooled.

It wasn't an easy thing to do, but if you have the training for it and the control you could push your chakra signature down to the size of an insects. It wouldn't change how it feels, Kakashi's could be pushed into a mouse sized pocket and I would still know him anywhere.

So, if I don't know you, and you can compress your chakra, there's a good chance that I will have no idea who you are.

This was proven when, not five minutes after the snow-on-your-cheeks appeared, I was blown out of my brain with a sudden wave.

It was a riptide, dark, threatening, hidden until it ripped your feet right out from under you and dragged you into the depths of oblivion. It was malicious, horrible, crushing.

I was drowning in it.

A hand smashed into my back, sending me flying to the ground and knocking the air out of me and the sense back in.

"Asuka!" Kakashi barked, no longer the Static Man, no longer a lazy pervert. Commanding. In charge.

I got to my knees, snapping my gun out. My hands had started shaking again. "Right."

I stood from there, sucking my senses back in. It only helped a little. Zabuza was going to strangle us with his killing intent.

I had the sense enough to back up in front of Tazuna, pistol pointed at the ground. On either side I felt Naruto and Sasuke, both of their signatures fluctuating with their own fear. I cocked the hammer, looking up at the figure standing on the hilt of a butcher's knife longer than I was tall.

Given I was barely five feet tall, it was an impressive feat.

A laugh echoed through my soul, chilling me to the core. Intimidation tactics were widely used, they were common, they were recognizable.

I was a twelve year old.

I was scared out of my mind. I could barely hear Kakashi talking, explaining who we were facing. The fear was choking.

The end of my barrel was starting to look very appealing.

And all at once it stopped.

The mist vanished, the hand around my throat was revealed to be my own mind and sparks of static rolled across my skin, flicking in my heart and reminding me that I was not alone.

Kakashi was there. He was strong. He would win.

I took a deep breath. My hands stopped shaking.

My heart did not slow down. It was beating violently against my ribs, a threat I could not currently afford. Fight or Flight was soaring high, dangerously so. It was worse than when I took my test. I was no longer afraid but my body recognized a threat and it wanted me to do what I had always done.

Run.

I couldn't though, I couldn't afford to. I had fought to stay by my boys, I was not going to lose this one and be the weakest link.

I refused.

The choice was stolen from me when Zabuza's chakra split, appearing behind me. Killing intent slammed down on my shoulders.

I couldn't even turn before the world dropped to black.

* * *

_The weakest link in a chain is the strongest because it can break it. - Stanislaw Jerzy Lec _


	16. In Between

**ShugoYuuki: She might be a little ticked at herself but she is okay. Thanks for caring! **

**Ilat-2: I didn't think that would be expected but okay. **

**Sabie0521: Yeah, that is kind of a problem huh? **

**alia00: Thank you!**

* * *

I had never been so furious with myself than when I woke up to a white ceiling with the knowledge that I had fucked up. I was already dead for fucks sakes, why would killing intent have that much of an effect on me?

I could only assume that it was because the mind foes not always align with the body. Just because I knew that something wasn't going to hurt me didn't mean my body didn't react to it.

It was shit.

I wanted to kill something.

* * *

I didn't let anyone else into Kakashi's room until he woke up. Of everyone there he knew me the best, and would be least likely to have a kunai shoved in my chest if his instincts told him he was threatened. I waited patiently for him to wake up, cleaning the fouling from the barrel. I had done it on the road, but I wanted to be more thorough. If I wasn't careful it would eat away the iron. It would be even worse if I had rifling. Unfortunately I was still working out how to do that without specially made power tools.

It was a few days before the poor man came to. It was silent, the only give away was when he opened his eye. I hadn't felt his chakra move until he saw it was just me. That took major skill, a frightening amount in fact.

"You're awake," I observed, turning to face him from where I was seated a yard or so away from the mat he was laying on.

"How long was I out?" he questioned, trying to sit up. I scooted forwards to help him, bracing the man with my shoulder.

"A few days. You should have been out longer. I've seen fish with more chakra than you," I frowned at him, letting Kakashi adjust his mask, "You shouldn't have used Obito's eye so much."

The man rolled his real eye, ruffling my hair. "Don't worry so much, Asuka. I can take care of myself."

"'Can' and 'Do' are very different things," I muttered, leaning into the attention.

"I'm fine," he insisted.

"You're stubborn is what you are."

Kakashi changed the subject. "Where are the others?"

"Downstairs. I didn't want them to freak you out if you went into that jonin 'anything that moves gets gutted' mode."

Under his mask I knew he was cringing.

"You said everyone else was downstairs? Why I don't I just go and-" he tried to get up but apparently found that he could not. He may want to move but his body knew more than he and would not let him. And me. My hand on his shoulder was some help too.

"Don't you dare. You'll go into shock or something. I'll get them," I snapped, standing and moving to the door. Under my breath I muttered, "Stubborn Static Man."

Once my call went down the boys, who had only gone under threat of fire and brimstone, appeared at the top in record time. I stepped to the side, letting the two rush in. It was pretty impressive that Kakashi didn't stab Naruto when he flung himself at him, practically crying. Kakashi had treated all three of us with the same kind of dismissal since we were put together. I don't think he quite realized how much that equality affected Naruto, who always, always got the short end.

Sasuke and I pried our friend off of our teacher, sitting him down as Tazuna walked in to join us.

It took a few minutes but soon enough the four of us were sitting around Kakashi, listening to him explain more about the supposed mist ANBU. I didn't interrupt, listening intently. It wasn't often Kakashi explained something in so much detail without being physically forced to do it.

I was content to let him tell them about the hunters, about the need to keep secrets. When he moved on to the reasons he thought Zabuza to be alive I stayed quiet then too. It wasn't like I was awake to see it happen. The whole time I was itching with questions, wanting to know more. How did you get rid of a body? What if you caught the person in the middle of town? Was there any way to find Zabuza and stop him before he recovered?

I didn't ask any though. I didn't like asking questions.

Asking questions only ever got you in trouble.

* * *

In order to prepare for the next fight it was decided by our wonderful teacher that the boys should learn how to walk on trees and I, who already knew that, should learn how to hold up under someone who wants to kill me. How did I do that, you ask?

Why, but having Killing Intent beat down onto my back until I passed out. Again.

Knowing him as the lazy head of silver that read inappropriate literature in public places it was easy sometimes to forget that lurking in the shadows was the Hound, one of the villages top special forces, a person who would do whatever he was asked for the sake of his home. He had killed.

Under the force of his will to do so I knew that the number was bigger than I ever wanted to experience myself.

The amount and the speed at which it increased changed at random, throwing my senses and my pulse way out of whack. Fight or flight was off the charts and he only stopped thinking of killing me when I was inches from unconsciousness.

By the end of the first day I thought I really was going to die.

* * *

While we were there we made good use of my little blond friends talents, sending copies of him out to do our dirty work. They stayed with the client, went shopping with his family and spied on the kid when he thought he was alone. It was a pretty good system too. A single Naruto could disarm several civilians without causing too much trouble, once we had explained to him the purpose of staying hidden.

As the days passed we fell into a routine. The boys tried to climb a tree with no hands and I tried not to hit the ground while our teacher read his little orange book. At night we would troop back, half dead on our feet, and meet up with the Wave family for dinner. It was a good one, and while I didn't really like being subjected to life threatening terror for every minute of every day, I was steadily growing more resistant to it.

Lucky me.

The peace of our routine was broken a few days later, at dinner time.

Really, no one should have asked about the picture.

* * *

I didn't really pay attention to his screaming. Honestly, it hurt my ears. I felt bad for the kid, honest, it was awful, but Inari needed a reality check. So when the Static Man stood up to follow him I cut him off, slipping out of my seat as well.

Blue eyes caught mine as I moved for the door. "Asuka? Where are you going?"

I smiled lightly. "Oh, just to compare sob stories. You want in? A few orphans an almost-there might add a little perspective," I joked. Sasuke rolled his eyes, grunting out an Uchiha version of 'fuck you'. Kakashi's smile said enough that I knew that he would let me handle it and Naruto snorted.

"That brat is all yours," he decided.

I hummed my understanding, waving goodbye and slipping out into the cool night air.

It was damp, more humid than it was in the land of fire. It reminded me a bit of Florida, just with less… Florida. A good thing, to be sure. Florida is terrible. The wood of the house creaked under my weight as I walked, tracking the child small signature to where he sat between a couple of bars. I slid down to join him, leaning my head on one of the barriers.

"You're quite the little pessimist, aren't you?" I teased lightly.

He scowled. I had to make myself not laugh. I knew it was mean, but it isn't in my nature to take things seriously. Even death was something I could joke about, being one who had firsthand experience and ticking clock in their chest.

"You know, I'm a little jealous. Not that your dad is dead, but that he loved you so much to begin with," I admitted, not looking at the boy. I could feel Kakashi behind us, probably listening from the other side of the wall.

"He's dead. What does it matter if he did?" the child snapped.

"It matters," I drawled, "Because love never dies. Even if that person is gone, they'll still love you." I still loved my father. The real one.

"What do you know? Is your dad dead?" Inari snapped harshly.

My laugh was harsh. "It might be easier that way. No, my dad hates my guts," I confessed. I had finally accepted that as the truth earlier that year, when I finally caught him outside of the hospital room that my mother slept in. Even now his words echo.

_Why aren't you dead yet? _

"I don't want him to die," I clarified, feeling Inari's eyes on me, "It would just hurt less if I got to say goodbye to him back when he loved me, and have those memories, than if he dies now, which he will, and have the memories tainted by it."

I cleared my throat. "Sorry, I'm not trying to tell you not to be upset, or to mourn him or anything, but being mad? At him? At us? That won't do anything. Nothing will change. Unless people like you, just regular, ordinary people, start to stand up for what's right, nothing will get better. People will keep losing their family until eventually… there are no families left."

I stood up then, brushing myself off. "We will beat Gato. It might be hard, it might take us a bit, hell it might even kill us. But this country will be free of him. The question is, will you be able to take that freedom, or fall back into subjugation?"

There was silence beside me except for a sniffle.

Then. "You'll die."

I ruffled his hair through his hat, the same way Kakashi had done mine for years. "I'll take Gato with me."

* * *

Kakashi closed his book, stowing it away and sighing. His back was pressed against the wall of the house, the two children on the other side audible to his trained ears. This mission had gone from routine to ruined far too quickly for his tastes. That wasn't even the most annoying part, his current weakness wasn't even it.

It was the fact that now he was going to have to track down Akio Suzuki and either talk or knock some sense into him. Kakashi wasn't sure when he'd started caring about the girl, but he did, so he had to take care of her, and that meant trying to make sure she didn't have as many issues as he did.

Which would have been easier, if her normal behavior didn't border on suicidal.

* * *

The week passed slowly until one day, while the youngest team member was sleeping soundly, the rest of us appearing on the bridge shortly after dawn. All around us when we arrived were the unconscious bodies of Tazuna's workers, laying around. None of them were dead, strangely enough.

There was something wrong with the whole picture really. Zabuza could have killed us easy when we were fighting him before. He could have taken out Kakashi while he was trapped. He could have had Haku attack with him and finish us off when we weren't expecting it. He could have killed all of the construction workers around us. The question was, why didn't he?

I didn't have much more time to think about it before I was pulling out my gun, the mist starting to set in around us. I wasn't freaking out. I wasn't. I was creeped out, but thanks to Kakashi I wasn't going to feint.

Sasuke, Kakashi and I moved into positions, guarding each other's back and Tazuna as well. The fog settled, thick and obscuring. From around us a voice echoed.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, Kakashi," Zabuza called. He didn't sound at all sorry to me. The pressure of his killing intent settled on my shoulders, about the same amount as what Kakashi had gotten me used to. I would not be useless this time.

I brought my gun up, pointing it towards where I could feel the two enemies standing.

* * *

_There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure. -Colin Powell_


	17. Battle on the Bridge

**NinjaDemonAngel: I'm happy that you like her! Thank you!**

**hachi hashi: That's actually pretty impressive considering I'm awful at making characters that can be hated. Kakashi is going to have his work cut out for him. **

**ShugoTuuki123: Thank you, here it is! **

**YSPMistake: Done. **

**Sabie0521: It's good to hear that!**

* * *

I brought the weapon up, aiming below where I knew a head would be, hopefully. MY finger touched the trigger. I wasn't shaking this time. I didn't want them dead, in fact if I remembered right this was where Sasuke unlocked his sharingan, so he needed to face Haku, something he had already dibbed. Naruto had whined about it and I had warned him that if he started losing I started shooting.

"He's shaking again," Zabuza mocked. Behind me I heard Sasuke huff under his breath. "How pitiful."

The statement was a chorus around us thanks to the newly appeared water clones. Ten of them, each with one tenth the amount of chakra that Zabuza himself possessed. Maybe a little less.

I could hear Sasuke smirk. "I'm shaking with excitement."

Kakashi's smile was also audible. "Go for it."

Sasuke's chakra flared, prompting me to roll my eyes as he attacked, taking the clones out with reckless, newly acquired speed. It wasn't much to someone who had trained with Gai and his team, but considering Sasuke's former speed it was an impressive improvement.

When the clones splashed down some of the mist thinned out, allowing us to see Zabuza and Haku on the other side of the bridge, approaching us.

"He can take out the clones," the smaller commented.

Zabuza agreed. "The kid got stronger."

I lifted my arm to aim at his knee. If we got Zabuza down, Haku wouldn't be that hard…

"Asuka," Sasuke was frowning at me, "I called."

"You're a dick."

"Children," Kakashi warned.

"He is," I insisted.

Zabuza cleared his throat. "If you're done bickering amongst yourselves?"

"You," Sasuke wasn't talking to Zabuza, his focus was on Haku, "Fight me."

"Oh? A challenger. What do you think, Haku?" Zabuza shifted a bit, his sword catching what little light we had.

"I will take care of him," he assured.

There was a simple command of "go," before Haku became a blur, a veritable tornado. Why he was spinning all over the place I didn't have a clue. Some ninja were just flashy and weird. Haku was no exception.

To be fair, neither was I.

"This would be faster if I just shot them," I complained to Kakashi. Kakashi hummed.

"Sasuke called dibs."

I grumbled under my breath, looking back as Sasuke, who was now watching with shock as Haku ran through a series of one handed signs. Which was much more impressive now that I knew how impossible that was to do than when I had just been watching it on TV.

The water rose to form a thousand needles, all of them shooting at Sasuke. He managed to avoid them, somehow, before clocking Haku. The older boy was sent flying across the ground, skidding to a stop beside Zabuza.

"Looks like my speeds better," Sasuke was very close to smiling, the proud brat.

"Don't get cocky," I warned.

"I'm sure most of the girls in our class would love that."

My mouth opened in shock, eyes wide. Sasuke was twelve. He wasn't supposed to be making those jokes yet! Both Kakashi and Zabuza snorted laughter.

"Child! Get your head out of the gutter!"

"You're still a child."

"Kiss my ass!"

"Why? It's so flat."

I shrieked in indignation, red coating my cheeks. Sasuke was laughing at me. Not openly. No, Uchiha didn't do that. In his head. He was cracking up. The bastard.

"Are your children done arguing yet, Kakashi? Or do I need to wait longer to kill you?" Zabuza taunted.

Kakashi shifted on his feet. "You can't underestimate us just because we have children," he scolded, "Sasuke is the Rookie of the Year, Asuka is the villages smartest child, and the other one is the number one at surprising people, Naruto."

"Smartest?" I tilted my head. "Tenzo says I'm the scariest girl my age."

Zabuza arched a brow. "You don't seem that scary to me."

"That's because she's never blown your face off," Kakashi wailed in mock despair, "Why do you think I have to wear this mask?"

Sasuke looked back at us at that. "Seriously?"

"Yes," I nodded grimly. "It was a dark day."

Zabuza was rolling his eyes. "Haku."

"Yes'sir."

He shot at Sasuke the second after the order came, almost catching him by surprise enough to stab him.

My hands twitched to let lead fly when the mirrors rose from the water around them, putting Sasuke in more danger than he had ever been in before. I knew Haku didn't want to kill him. I did. That still didn't comfort me much.

I couldn't do much except watch, watch Haku attack my friend, watch Zabuza keep Kakashi from interfering, watch Naruto make a stupid, awful mistake. I grit my teeth together.

"If this doesn't end soon I'm going to shoot one of them," I warned. I saw the barest dip of Kakashi's chin. There was permission.

"It is difficult for me to become a pure ninja." Haku's voice carried. "If possible I do not wish to kill you, or make you kill me. However if you choose to fight me I will kill my compassion with a blade and become a ninja. In short, I will fight for my dream, and you will fight for yours. Please do not hold any grudges. I want to work for him, fight for him, and make his dreams come true. That is my dream. In order to accomplish it I will make myself into a ninja. I will kill you!"

_What is it with ninja and monologues?_

The boys were getting excited, even through the mirrors I could see their grins. They had a love of fighting that I would never understand. So it was no surprise when Naruto attacked before Haku, ignoring Sasuke's warning.

True to the Uchiha's prediction the clones, and their original, were all struck down by Haku's speed.

Kakashi reached up for his headband.

"Hold on," I requested. He glanced in my direction, squinting. "Something's up. If Haku was that fast, those two would be dead."

I swallowed thickly before continuing to voice my earlier thoughts, "We all should be. You had the chance to kill us all before, from my understanding. But you didn't. You went slow enough the boys had a chance, you kept your partner waiting in the wings, you just held Kakashi instead of killing him." I narrowed my eyes at Zabuza, "So why? None of it makes sense. Why are we still alive?"

His eyes were on me, calculating. "I didn't feel like killing you then."

"Sasuke!"

Naruto's shout echoed around us, horrified. My head snapped towards the mirrors. Dark energy exploded from within it, horrible, awful, oppressing, murderous energy. My vision blacked before fading to spots, my throat closed and my heart squeezed.

With legs of jelly I forced myself to stay conscious. It was worse that Zabuza, worse than Kakashi but I didn't have time to be afraid. There were more important things right then.

"Okay. That's enough," I growled. I pointing myself at Zabuza, pulling the trigger before I could back or black out. I managed to cock the hammer back and fire again before he realized what had happened, taking out knee cap and a shoulder.

Let me tell something interesting. The knee is a very delicate system of nerves, muscles, ligaments and cartilage. Breaking it, or having it destroyed by a bullet, can permanently cripple a person, no matter how strong. That's why I aimed there. That's also why Zabuza hit the ground.

He was lucky, he'd moved to the side just enough that I probably only tore into the muscles and bone instead of destroyed them. That didn't mean he'd be using that leg any time soon. He rose on his other one, swinging his sword and using that as moment to carry a jump at me. Kakashi blocked him before he reached me, kunai catching the downward swing of the other weapon.

I swallowed thickly, taking a step back. Zabuza was bleeding badly from both wounds. In fact I was pretty sure that the one in his shoulder had gone far enough to bury itself into his scapula.

"Asuka!" his voice was sharp, and order. I cocked the hammer and lunged before I could second guess what he wanted me to do. In the air I twisted, pointing my gun towards Zabuza.

I wish I could say that I froze in place when someone not-Zabuza appeared in front of me, mask missing, brown hair flying and arms outstretched in a shield. I my finger moved before my brain could tell it not to, the sound cracking the air around us. I didn't want to shoot. I didn't want to hurt anyone, not unless it was my life or theirs. Which, right now, it was not.

So we were frozen, the two older men locked in steel status while Haku and I had something of a stare down, he now bleeding heavily from serratus. Off to the side I felt Naruto beginning to calm, the horrific chakra starting to seep back into him. Sasuke's chakra was there, barely.

"Naruto," I called, "Sasuke's alright. His chakra's still there so he can't be dead."

The entire time I spoke I kept my eyes on Haku, who watched me just as intently. Only when the dark energy ebbed away did my heart stop trying to tear me apart. My blood started to even out then, which really didn't make me any less dizzy. Years of having my head rush had my body trained to stay up even when my balance went to shit.

There was a flare of chakra, eight individual ones smaller than human but larger than regular animals. Zabuza's cursing filled the air.

With Zabuza's pain the mist began to lift, ebbing away until it was almost completely gone. When it lifted enough I could see a veritable army standing on one of the ends.

A short, frizzy haired man stood in front of them all, dressed in a suit that had to be made of silk. A frown marred my face. I could have sworn Gato didn't show up until later. This was also throwing things out of line. Haku hadn't died, so Naruto would have no reason to challenge Zabuza about his judgement of the boy and-

My thoughts were cut off when the Zabuza voiced a question and Haku stumbled, managing to hold his balance. I moved forward, ready to catch him on instinct. He misread my movement and tore a senbon from somewhere on his person.

"What's with all these guys, Gato?" the demon asked, somehow still standing. He was stronger than I had ever hoped to be, shot up with a pack of dogs clinging to him.

"Sorry Zabuza," the lying bastard was smiling. "There's been a change in plans. You die here.

"What?" the missing nin snarled.

"If I hire official ninja it would cost a lot, so I hire exiled ones like you. If you ninja had just killed each other it would have saved me time and money. Instead you, who are supposed to be the 'Demon of the Mist' couldn't even handle a few children."

"This child is about to blow a hole in that fat mouth," I growled darkly. Him, I wouldn't mind shooting.

Kakashi sent me a look.

"Sorry, Kakashi, it looks like our fight is over. With this my contract on Tazuna is terminated. We have no more reason to fight."

"Yeah," Kakashi agreed, "You're right."

I took a deep breath, lowering the barrel of the gun to the ground. I turned from Haku, to Zabuza. "If that's the case, would you mind either helping or taking a break? I promised a kid that I would free him of that sonuvabitch."

"You think you can take them all out?" Zabuza asked, sounding amused.

I snorted. "Yeah, no. But I've got three shots left. I'd say that's enough for him. He's what, thirty yards out?" the older ninja nodded. "Then my accuracy should be fine without distance compensation."

"Are you really going to kill him?" Kakashi asked, lowering to one knee.

"Er, I don't really want to kill _anyone_. But I made this knowing what it could do and what it would be used for. And I promised Inari that we would beat Gato, so… if I crippled him, he would still have his money and his power right?" I licked my lips, ignoring the beginning of shaking in my hands. It wasn't target panic, thankfully. Just nerves.

"You're right," Kakashi confirmed after a moment of watching me. "Can you do it?"

I shrugged, bringing the gun up and lining the sights up with the mans throat. "One way to find out."

A deep breath, aim was taken._ Never point a gun at someone unless you plan to kill them with it_.

The man was laughing, mocking Zabuza and threatening Haku, something about a broken hand. I didn't hear him. I was busy.

Why did I even care if I killed him? Was death really so bad? Mine hadn't been, and I'd died the same way. Except I still had an ache in my chest whenever I remembered all I had left unfinished, all the friends I would never see again and all the accomplishments that now meant nothing.

Yes, death was terrible.

Gato was also terrible.

I pulled the trigger.

* * *

When we walked back to the house, Kakashi supporting Zabuza, I helping Haku and the boys leaning on each other, Tsunami did a miraculous job of rushing us inside without question as to why the men who had tried to kill her father were with us. Inari had shown up after Gato was down, dead before he hit the ground. His hired army had been about to try and attack us when the boy had shown up with almost every villager there, sans his mother, who had prepared warm water, bandages and alcohol for our returning.

We set the boys down on chairs and had them strip, much to Naruto's mortification. I inspected the damage I did, being the only one who understood it fully. Zabuza watched me carefully while I checked his knee.

"I hope you understand how lucky you are that that missed your knee cap," I informed him, manually moving his leg. I wasn't a doctor, though I had a doctorate. That didn't mean I didn't know what I could do. I had studied the human body to figure out where best to hit depending on my motivation.

"How come?" Naruto asked, leaning over me. He was in nothing but his underwear, most of his injuries already gone.

"If I had hit his knee cap it would have permanently crippled him."

Death for a missing nin.

"That's mean," Naruto accused. I took a swipe at him, one that he dodged with a laugh, the jerk.

While I patched up Zabuza as best I could, warned him about the dangers of having a bullet lodged in his bone, and went on to Haku, who now sported a hole in his side. The boy, who was about five times prettier than I would ever be and had a knowledge on the human body I might never possess, was lucky enough to not have any irreversible damage. Maybe just to his spirit.

"Sorry, by the way," I looked up at Haku from where I was at his side, packing in herb paste as he had instructed. Brown eyes lifted from my hand to meet mine, surprise shining in them.

"For injuring me?" he clarified. When I nodded he offered me a soft smile. "Don't be. I knew I would be hurt if I stepped between you and Zabuza. It was my choice."

"It was a stupid choice," I chided, "You were already hurt, I could have killed you."

"Would you have done any less if you had been able to see your friends?" he asked. I faltered.

"Well when you put it like that…"

I would have done anything for my boys. They had become such an important part of my life I couldn't imagine it without them in it. Death might not be the end of everything, but it did rip away things and people that you loved.

I wouldn't let it take away everything I had worked for in this life.

* * *

There was one good thing that had come out of this mission, I mused later that night as I watched Tsunami force vegetables down the throats of the males we were stuck with. Zabuza and Haku were alive, which meant that my fears of the future being set in stone were banished. I could change things. I could make a difference.

* * *

_You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete. ― Buckminster Fuller_


	18. AN

**HEY! **

**This isn't an actual chapter, sorry about that. **

**I just thought I should let everyone know that this story is on hold for a little bit. It's not abandoned, I will keep going with it, but for the time being it isn't my main focus. I'll be back to it when I have more idea for it instead of just a basic skeleton. **


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